







<^o./iyiy/it .^J^n 




UNI'I ED STATES OF AMERICA. 


' 







I 



I 




JlIK HAWK'S NP:ST, OR MAUSH ALL'S PILLAK, 

FAYETTE COUNTY, WEST VIlKilNIA . PAGE 167. 



FIVE YEARS 



IN 



THE ALLEGHANIES. 



'^. 



/ 




PUBLISHED BY THE 
AMEEICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by the 
American Tract Society, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court 
of the Southern District of the State of New York. • 



2 I 



! <r, 



^ 



CONTENTSo 

CHAPTEE I. 
The Preparation 5 

CHAPTEE n. 
The milestone — The elegant young man — The col- 
lier — The rich lady • 15 

CHAPTEE nr. 

The grog-shop — The rolling mills — The Universalist, 27 

CHAPTEE IV. 

The new *'relagin" — The hard father and his little 
daughter — The deserted homes — The stolen books, 37 

CHAPTER V. 
Book preachers installed — " Caught with guile " — The 
clenched fist — Eeview - 49 

CHAPTEE VI. 

Governor of West Vu'ginia — Surprising desolations — 
The lodging — The dinner — ' ' Blazing the trees " — 57 

CHAPTEE Vn. ^ 
The hunter seeking books for a Sunday-school — The 
first sermon — Clock pedlars 68- 

CHAPTEE Vm. 
The "Ironside" preacher and distiller — Wife and 
L-miuldaughter - 75 

CHAPTEE IX. 
A church dignitary — "Have you let Washington into 
heaven?" 81 

CHAPTEE X. 

The pistol — The surveyor's son — A public-house — 
' ' You have prayed plenty " — The pocket-Bible 89 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XL 

The summit of Cheat mountain — The "fellow that 
wanted to colport" — The sheriff's warrant — "Wish- 
ing to be a /rac^ agent 97 

CHAPTER Xn. 

The wickedest man in the county — The bully — The 
shooting match — A gang of desperadoes Ill 

CHAPTER Xm. 
A night on guard — Old Bandal Lucas 119 

CHAPTER XrV. ' 

"No church, no preacher, no Sunday-school, no day- 
school " — A young lady's success 128 

CHAPTER XV. 

"No such place as hell" — The busy lawyer — A Trini- 
ty — The great work in L , and in U- — 137 

CHAPTER XVI. 
A Pentecostal season — Service in a graveyard — A Se- 
ceder church 151 

CHAPTER XVn. 

The Spirit's blessing at C , and near Marshall's 

Pillar, and at L B Col. S 's household, 163 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Grieving the Spirit — Striking effects of the Anxious 
Inquirer 176 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Work of grace at L The German professor— 

The wealthy young lady — "Don't be offended" — 

A distinguished civilian • 188 

The Conclusion 201 



FIYB YEARS 

IN 

THE ALLEGHANIES, 



CHAPTER I. 



" It is not in man that walketh to direct his 
steps." In all my connection with the scenes 
here truthfully described, as in the training 
and disciphne of earher years through which 
I was brought into them, I have been led in a 
icay that I hneiv not. 

1 was born on the border of Western Penn- 
sylvania and Yii'ginia, within the wilds of the 
vast range of the Alleghanies, where the howl 
of the wolf, the scream of the panther, and 
the Indian's tomahawk were my dread. In 
infancy my father died, and a few years later 
my pious mother. But God raised up a fos- 



6 FIVE YEARS 

ter-motlier, and in her family an intelligent 
Scotcli female teacher, who made me her 
special charge during my first year at school. 
Here, in connection with faithful preaching 
from a tent in the woods on the Sabbath, and 
instruction in the log-cabin day-schools, I re- 
ceived those rudiments of education, and was 
indoctrinated in that sound system of faith 
and morals from which "old Scotia's grandeur 
springs." 

Conscious of my ruin by sin and need of 
the "new birth," as set forth in old standard 
works of Flavel and Boston which I read, for 
three years from ten to thirteen, I was often 
deeply impressed as to the state of my soul. 
I attended constantly on preaching and the^ 
monthly examinations, committed to mem- 
ory catechisms and scriptures, and wrestled 
with God in prayer that I might be truly con- 
verted and become a minister of the gospel ; 
and sometimes I indulged a trembling hope 
in Christ. 

But among the snares and flatteries of un- 
godly companions, my alarm and faint hopes 
of salvation gradually subsided. I was at 
length led to show my manhood by tobacco- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 7 

chewing, card-playing, and even profanity. 
Next I was enticed to read works on Univer- 
salism, and for four years souglit to stifle con- 
science by arguments to prove that all will be 
saved. Yet a still small voice was whispering, 
"The soul that sinneth it shall die;" and 
though jovial in company, when alone hell 
would seem to flash up before me in all its 
horrors. Two great powers were stri^dng in 
my heart : one to lead me into deeper sin ; 
the other crying, " Turn ye, turn ye ; for why 
will ye die?" At seventeen I went with an 
ungodly young man into the then "wilderness 
of Central Ohio, where for half a year I heard 
no sermon, hunted on the Sabbath, threw off 
restraints, and as it w^ere dared the ven- 
geance of God. Oh how astonishing the mer- 
cy of God, to continue to strive with such a 
rebel ! 

When I arrived at eighteen, I spent two or 
three nights in a week at the card-table, to 
"kill time" and drown the whispers of the 
Spirit. I thought of enlisting in the army, and 
then resolved to go to sea : but in the provi- 
dence of God, a young woman just then en- 
gaged my affections; thoughts of the axmy 



8 FIVE YEARS 

and tlie sea were dislodged, and in a few 
months we were married, depending on our 
personal exertions for tlie means of support. 

We rented a piece of land, and entered upon 
the scenes and responsibilities of real life. 
After six months, I was seized with acute in- 
flammatory rheumatism, and the verdict of 
the physician was, that the disease was incur- 
able, and I must die. Every feature was dis- 
torted with agony ; and yet the agony of soul 
at the thought of being dragged into the pres- 
ence of God with all my sins unpardoned was 
unspeakably more terrible. I saw that I had 
shut my heart against the calls of God's word 
and Spirit a thousand times, and that I de- 
served the deepest hell. I tried to pray, but 
there seemed to be no God to hear, no Sav- 
iour to intercede, no Spirit to comfort my lost 
and wretched soul. 

As I was recovering, " The Afflicted Man's 
Companion," received from a friend, was 
greatly blessed to me, and I resolved by 
God's help to live the life and die the death 
of 'the righteous. The struggle now began in 
earnest. Such was my agony of soul, that I 
often went to the woods and rolled on the 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 9 

ground for hours. Most of tliose around me, 
for miles in every direction, were living in neg- 
lect of God ; intemperance fearfally prevailed ; 
tliere was not one religious friend to whom I 
could reveal the feelings of my heart. I tried 
to surrender myseK to Christ, but in vain. A 
voice seemed to follow me continually, " He 
that is ashamed of me and of my words, of him 
will I be ashamed before my Father and his 
holy angels." I felt that a pubhc acknow- 
ledgment of Christ and his cause was the only 
way of rehef ; but I shrunk from the duty, 
wisliing to be a secret Christian, and go to 
the Saviour, hke Nicodemus, by night. This 
distress continued for some months. 

At length I was enabled to ask a blessing 
at my table, which seemed a hard task before 
my then irrehgious wife ; and after this it was 
a struggle of six months before I could sum- 
mon courage to commence family prayer, 
even on a Sabbath evening. This duty was 
then performed, and peace of mind followed. 
After a few months I made known the state 
of my mind to the officers of a church some 
miles distant, and was admitted, though with 
many sore misgivings and fears that I had 



10 FIVE YEARS 

no riglit totlie Lord's supper, and was self- 
deceiyed. 

God graciously removed these doubts, and 
I felt the claims of Christ to do something 
for others. I first engaged in loaning such 
good books as I could get, especially The Af- 
flicted Man's Companion, Doddridge's Eise 
and Progress, and Pike's Persuasives to Ear- 
ly Piety ; feeling assured that no one could 
prayerfully read either of these books without 
being converted. ' 

"When I was in my twenty-third year, a 
devoted Christian settled in a very wicked 
community about five miles from me, where 
he started a Sabbath-school. I went to see 
it, and was greatly pleased with it. At the 

close, I was introduced to Mr. P ; and to 

his influence, under God, more than to that 
of any other individual, is to be traced all I 
have been enabled to do for the salvation of 
souls. He told me all about the management 
of a Sabbath-school, and how to get books 
from the American Sunday-school Union, 
which had just begun its heaven-bom work 
in our country. I immediately set to work, 
raised five dollars, procured ten dollars' worth 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 11 

of books, and opened a Sabbath-school in 
my own house. The room soon became too 
small ; but God put it into the heart of an irre- 
ligious neighbor to offer a larger room, where 
the school was continued for a year, and 
where I also held a weekly meeting, usually 
reading one of Burder's Yillage Sermons. 
More room soon became necessary, and a 
large school-house was built ; and there, for 
twelve long years, the Sabbath-school and 
religious meetings were kept up, until nearly 
all the youth and most of the adult popula- 
tion in the neighborhood were brought into 
the church. 

This Sabbath-school and that of Mr. P 

were the means God used to build up a good 
congregation in one of the most wicked and 
hopeless communities. 

"With these results before me, as soon as I 
heard of Colportage my heart beat with joy 
at the thought that the poor would soon have 
the gospel preached to them, and that thou- 
sands of children, untaught at home, would 
be reached by soul-saving truth adapted to 
theu' opening minds. 

But the question came into my mind at 



12 FIVE YEARS 

once, " Who will go into these ignorant com- 
munities, and deny themselves the comforts 
of home, to do this work ?" little thinking that 
God, by fifteen years training, had selected 
me for that very work in the AUeghanies. 

An incident that occurred some years pre- 
vious made a deep impression on my mind. 
The ecclesiastical body with which I was con- 
nected had requested the officers of vacant 
churches to visit all the famiUes in those 
churches, and talk and pray with them. I 
shrunk from the task; but encouraged by 

Mr. P , I entered on it with fear and 

trembling. By the time the first visit was 
paid I felt as if I should like to spend my 
days in such a work. Late in the evening of 
my first day I stopped at a house where the 
man and his wife were members of our church. 
A young man was present who was to be mar- 
ried in a few days. I had some acquaintance 
with him, and asked him if he had ever felt 
any concern about his soul. He said, "A 
little sometimes, but not much." I urged 
him to seek first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness, and said to him, 'Tor aught 
you know, before another morning you may 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 13 

be dead, or on a sick-bed from which you 
may never rise." At midnight that night he 
woke up sick. Li a day or two I was sent for. 
He told me the moment he woke sick he 
thought of what I said, and felt that he should 
never get well. He lingered three months; 
but more than a month before he died he 
professed his faith in Christ. From that time 
till he died, he daily urged his ungodly, in- 
temperate parents to repent and meet him in 
heaven. The father soon became much dis- 
tressed about his soul; and a year after, he 
died a most triumphant death, committing 
his children to my care for religious instruc- 
tion. Within a few years the mother and 
most of the children were united with God's 
people. All attributed their salvation to the 
exhortations of that son and those of us who 
attended him and his father. This encour- 
aged me to try to do more. 

On the morning of October 20, 1844, I 
rose in peace, with my happy little family 
around me ; but a holy Providence ordered 
that in twelve hours my dear wife was to be 
in the cold embrace of death, and that her 
death was to be the first of a chain of provi- 



14 FIVE YEAES 

dences to lead me ^' out into tlie highways and 
hedges/' 

The next Sabbath morning our pulpit was 

occupied by Eev. Mr. W , who presented 

the moral and rehgious wants of our country, 
and tenderly appealed for laborers. At the 
close of the service I was introduced to him, 
and he accompanied me to the new-made 
grave of my beloved companion. The band 
that had bound me to my home was loosed. 
On Monday morning the preacher called on 
me again ; preliminaries were arranged ; and 
I was commissioned as colporteur for "West- 
ern Virginia, consenting first to labor a short 
time among the colliers in Western Pennsyl- 
vania. 



IN TPE ALLEGHANIES. 15 



CHAPTEE II. 

I LEFT home for tlie field of labor assigned 
me on the first day of November, 1844. 

On my way on horseback I came alongside 
of a young gentleman of yery fine appear- 
ance. "We immediately entered into conver- 
sation about the beautiful farms and fine im- 
provements we passed. 

When we had rode some distance, I ob- 
served a mile-stone^ which reminded me of a 
promise made some years before, that I would 
never travel a mile or spend an hour alone 
with any person without tallving on the sub- 
ject of religion. I immediately set about to 
find something to make an introduction out 
of. The first thing that caught my eye was 
a very taU hickory pole, raised by one of the 
political parties of the time, and said I feared 
the pohtical excitement was very seriously 
affecting the interests of the church. 

The evasive reply of the elegant young man 
led me to suppose he was a gay, thoughtless 



16 FIVE YEARS , 

young lawyer or physician, as I had discov- 
ered that he was an educated man. 

I then observed to him that as we were 
providentially thrown together, and I had 
made a promise not to travel a mile or spend 
an hour with any one mthout speaking on 
the subject of religion, I hoped he had no 
objections to such conversation. 

He said, '^ It is no doubt an important sub- 
ject," but said it in such a way that I still 
thought he was an irreligious man. 

I then observed that I felt a deep interest 
in young men, especially as the destinies of 
the church and nation would soon be" in their 
hands. That the only safeguard of either 
was real piety. I then repeated the text, 
" Except a man be born again he cannot see 
the kingdom of God." And after preaching 
him a sermon from it near a mile long, he 
observed, 

" Well, sir, that is very good theology." 

The manner in which it Avas said led me 
to reply, "Perhaps T have run against a 
preacher." 

"Yes, sir," said he, "I am a new beginner 
at it, and you have given me one of the best 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. IT 

lessons that I have ever learned. I thank 
you for it; it needs no apology, and I hope 
God will give me grace always to do like- 
wise." 

Our journey as "we continued it to Pitts- 
burg was pleasant and profitable. 

In the evening I reached the hospitable 

home of the Rev. Mr. J in the village of 

T , near to the city. It had been ar- 
ranged for his house to be my headquarters, 
and I shall never forget the nights I spent 
with him and his devoted companion. I 
thought him as nigh Christian perfection as 
man is ever raised in this world. Had it not 
been for their wise Christian counsel and ear- 
nest prayers, my faith and courage would have 
yielded when I came to look on my field of la- 
bor. My new work, to which everybody was a 
stranger, and to be done among strangers in 
the bustle of business and worldly excite- 
ments, seemed to be too formidable an un- 
dertaking. All nations seemed to be repre- 
sented; scores intoxicated, and blaspheming 
God's holy name. And what added to the 
difficulty was, that my books did not come 
to hand for three days, leaving me that time 



18 FIVE YEABS 

to magnify moleliills into mountains of diffi- 
culty. 

But tMs delay was the most important part 
of my training. Those were days of most 
earnest searchings of heart, while such pas- 
sages of Scripture as, " He that is ashamed of 
me and my words, of him will I be ashamed 
before my Father and his holy angels," were 
constantly ringing in my ears. 

On the evening of the third day the box of 
books came. I had engaged a class-leader in 
the Methodist church to go with me the first 
day; but the sight of the box made me trem- 
ble, and so great was the dread of beginning 
the work that evening, that I resolved that if 
God did not give me strength by the next 
morning, I would start home and give it up. 
The night was spent without sleep. I can 
truly say I was in an agony till four o'clock 
in the morning. Then in a moment of time 
all my fears were gone, and I longed for the 
morning to come that I might begin my work. 

By eight o'clock in the morning I called on 

Mr. S who was to accompany me, with 

my basket filled with good books and tracts. 

In a few minutes we entered the first house. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 19 

They were Germans; very irreligious. We 
talked and prayed with them, and sold some 
books. They seemed pleased with the visit, 
and thanked ns for it. 

The next house we entered bore the brand 
of intemperance. The husband was sitting 
by the fire with a sore hand and red eyes. 
We preached to him " righteousness, temper- 
ance, and a judgment to come," till he trem- 
bled and wept like a child. He promised to 
drink no more, joined a temperance society 
that night, became a church-going man, pro- 
vided for his family, and as far as I know 
has turned out well. 

During that day we visited twenty-seven 
famihes, talked and prayed with all of them, 
and distributed near twenty dollars' worth of 
books. Many shed tears while we talked 
with them of Christ and salvation, and prom- 
ised to attend to the " one thing needful." 

Mr. S , my fellow-laborer, was so stirred 

in soul with the day's work, that he said he 
must let his business stand and go the next 
day. 

The next morning we started, full of zeal 
and hope. We met with many of the most 



20 FIVE YEARS 

wicked and degraded people that I had ever 
jseen. Some listened to us with attention, 
while others treated us with contempt. Late 
in the evening, while we were visiting a row 
of board shanties, occupied by coal diggers, 
I was told not to venture into one of the shan- 
ties ; that the man was almost a giant in size 
and strength, and a very dangerous man ; that 
he was a terror to the neighborhood, and had 
beaten his wife very badly the day before. I 
replied there was the more need to see him, 
and I would go in. My friend would not 
even come to the door of the shanty, for fear 
of him. 

The shanty was sixteen feet square, no 
floor but the earth; neither chair, 'table, nor 
bed except a bundle of straw in one corner. 
He was seated on a large block of coal at one 
side of the fire, and his wife on another block 
at the other side, while the children were 
lying on the ground playing between them. 
The woman's face bore testimony of the beat- 
ing she had gotten the day before. 

He was one of the most fiendish-looking 
men I ever saw. ' He was of enormous size, was 
clothed with rags, and did not appear as if he 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 21 

had been washed for months. He was as 
black as coal-dust could make him. I must 
confess it required all the courage I could 
summon to speak to him. 

I approached him, and extended my hand, 
and said to him, " I have come to supply you 
with some good books to comfort you and 
point you to heaven. Have you a Bible?" 
" No," said he. " Can you read ?" " Yes, a 
Uttle." "Do you love Jesus Christ?" "I 
fear not, sir." I then urged him by every 
thing sacred to attend to his soul's salvation 
-v^ithout delay; that death, judgment, and 
eternity were hastening on, and pictured to 
him as well as I could the awful consequences 
of dying lq his sins. The tears ran down his 
blackened cheeks till the coal-dust was wash- 
ed away below his eyes. I gave him a book, 
and prayed with him. He begged me to call 
again, and said, " You are the first man that 
ever spoke to me about my soul." 

During this day we visited twenty-two fami- 
lies, and had rehgious conversation and prayer 

with each of them. ]Mr. S had become 

so deeply interested, that he said he must go 
another day. 



22 FIVE YEARS 

The next day we concluded to visit a coal 
digger's boarding-liouse, said to be the wick- 
edest den that was to be found in the whole 
district. I will not attempt to describe its 
character. "We entered late in the evening, 
as this was the only time we conld find the 
men in. The house was kept by an old 
woman and her sons, who worked in the 
mines and were notorious for their daring 
profanity. 

When we entered the house several men 
were playing cards, others were lying on 
benches about the room in various stages of 
intoxication. My colaborer was a small, timid 
man, and seemed somewhat alarmed. 

I introduced our errand by proposing to 
sell them some good books, which they de- 
clined even to look at. I then commenced a 
general exhortation, which had no effect more 
than pouring water on a rock. I then called 
on my friend to pray, as it was his turn, and 
we had agreed to lead in turns. This he did 
with great fervor, and was responded to by 
the men with vulgar songs, and such other 
behavior as I have never seen before or 
since. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 23 

At the close of his prayer I turned to the 
old woman and told her I was astonished at 
the mercy of God that permitted such a fam- 
ily to hve, and portrayed the awful conse- 
quences of her meeting her household in hell. 
I drew every alarming picture I could sum- 
mon from the Bible or the resources of my 
own mind. After some time the old woman 
began to weep, and she promised to attend 
the mission chapel the next Sabbath. After 
supplying them with a copy of Baxter's Call, 
and a number of suitable tracts, we left them. 

The next Sabbath the old woman was at 
the chapel. A series of religious meetings 
began that day, and before its close, as my 
friend informed me, who was a worshipper 
there, the old woman and one of her sons 
professed r^hgion. 

One day we entered a room where a man 
was lying sick. We introduced the subject 
of rehgion to him. He ground his teeth with 
rage, and swore he did not want to hear any 
thing on that subject. I then began to in- 
quire about his complaints, and to prescribe 
some simple remedies, and he soon became 
calm. After some time I remarked that af- 



24 FIVE YEABS 

flictions did not come by chance, neither did 
trouble spring out of the ground, but they 
were all sent of God for some wise purpose. 
" Do you think so ?" said he. " Yes," said I, 
" and for our good." He then listened atten- 
tively, and soon shed tears. Though he was 
very poor, he bought some books. I prayed 
with him, and left him, but not without many 
thanks and entreaties to come and see him 
as often as I could. 

This closed the work of three days, in 
which time we had visited eighty-five fami- 
lies. 

These three days were the most interesting 
days that I had ever spent. By the next 
morning I found my voice almost gone, and 
all my limbs trembhng. The excitement of 
the work and intensity of feehng had pros- 
trated me before I was aware of it. 

After a day or two of rest I resumed my 
labors for three weeks, when I went home a 
few days. 

I then returned to the same place, and 
spent a month in visiting new famiUes and 
revisiting old ones ; and I shall never forget 
the cordial shake of the hand that I got al- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 26 

most every day, when I would meet some one 
in the house or on the street whom I had 
before conversed mth and supplied T^ith a 
book or tract. Special services had been 
held in several churches, and quite a number 
had professed rehgion. One minister told me 
he had taken into his church forty, many of 
whom dated theii* first rehgious impressions 
to reading the books and tracts I had sold or 
given them, othei^ referred to the visits as 
the means of their awakening. 

There was one thing in the work which 
struck me with great force — the effect on 
Christian people. I tried as far as possible 
to get some good man to go with me in my 
visits. It was !l great help to me and added 
to my success, and at the same time it stirred 
up many to work for Christ that had never 
done any thing before. 

One instance I will name of a Miss L , 

though she had been a worker. She was a 
lady of large wealth, and had a number of 
poor tenants Hving on her property. She 
heard of my work, and came to see me. At 
her request I went to visit her "parish," as 
she called it. I went at the set time, and 



26 FIVE YEAKS 

she was ready to go witli me, basket in hand. 
During the day we visited thirty families, and 
talked and prayed in every house. When my 
strength failed she took it up, and such en- 
treaties to sinners I have seldom heard, and 
such prayers are seldom offered. During 
that day I found eleven persons that attrib- 
uted their conversion to her efforts with books 
and tracts. She said she was a colporteur 
before, but did not know it till that day. 
Reader, go and do likewise. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 27 



CHAPTEE III. 

I NOW add a number of facts and incidents 
that occurred dimng these two months of 
labor. 

There was a Mr. G-. , a coal-digger, of 

desperate character, that I had been warned 
not to visit. I was told that he was such an 
abandoned character that he was hopeless; 
that he spent the most of every night in a 
miserable doggery, drinking and fighting. I 
had passed his house every day for some 
time, but did not feel satisfied with myself 
for neglecting it. 

At last I felt constrained to call one even- 
ing ; but he had not returned from his work. 
I had a long, earnest talk with his wife, who 
seemed very careless and wicked. All I could 
say made no impression on her. I gave her 
a copy of Baxter's Call, with the earnest re- 
quest that she and her husband would read 
it. ^Tiat followed I will relate as near as I 
can in his own words in a prayer-meeting in 
his own house about two weeks after. 



28 FIVE YEARS 

'^ While eating my supper, my wife told me 
some man liad been here and left a book, 
whicli lie was very desirous she and I should 
read. I got the book to look at it, and read 
a few pages without much interest ; but as I 
was very tired, I concluded not to go to the 
grog-shop that night. In the morning, which 
was Sunday morning, I felt inclined to go and 
get my bitters ; but seeing the book, I conclud- 
ed to read till breakfast, and then go. By the 
time breakfast was ready I felt pretty serious, 
and asked my wife if she would not like to go to 
church — a place we had not been in for eight 
years. She said she had no objections. I 
read till it was time to go, and began to feel 
somewhat anxious about my soul. I listened 
to the preaching with intense interest. I read 
the book nearly through that evening, went 
back to the church that night, and when those 
who desired to have an interest in Christ were 
called for, I came forward. A week after, I 
found peace." 

He then added, "If it had not been for 
that book, I think myself and wife would 
have been in heU to-night. That gun was 
loaded," pointing to an old gun in the corner, 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 29 

*' with a view of lulling myself and wife near a 
month ago, and if God had not saved me, it 
would likely have been done before this time. 
I was a miserable man; life was a burden; 
but now I am happy." 

This narrative brought tears to all our eyes, 
and joy to our hearts. 

I visited some of the grog-shops around 
the village every day to supply their custom- 
ers with temperance tracts. In the village 
proper, no liquor could be sold, as in all the 
deeds for lots there was a temperance clause 
that forfeited the property if Uquor was sold ; 
but all round the village the grog was abun- 
dant, and customers plenty. 

Passing one of these drinking places one 
day I saw several customers in, and entered 
the bar-room with my tracts. The Uquor- 
sellers had got to know me, and often looked 
daggers at me. A good-looking man, well 
dressed, and about haK drunk, was approach- 
ing the counter to get a six-cent drink. Said 
I, "My friend, I can give you something 
for six cents that will do you much more 
good, and no harm." He asked me what it 
was, when I presented to him Baxter's Call. 



30 FIVE YEAES 

I told liim the liquor migl}^ kill him, and if 
he would read that book with prayerful at- 
tention, it might save his soul. He said he 
would buy the book if he had the money, but 
that he had only six cents to pay for that 
glass of hquor, which by this time was stand- 
ing on the counter. 

"We both came up to the counter, when I 
laid the book beside the glass, saying, " Here 
is life or death for six cents." The grog-sel- 
ler said I had no business to come there an- 
noying his customers, and injuring his busi- 
ness. I urged the man at the risk of losing 
his soul to buy and read the book. The 
struggle seemed to be between life and death. 
At last he handed me the money, took the 
book, and went out of the room. I then 
handed the landlord a book worth more than 
the whiskey, and told him to read it, and then 
sell it to make up the loss. This is only a 
sample of every day occurrences in ^dllage and 
city colportage. Eternity only will reveal the 
results. 

At the request of the proprietors of a large 
rolling-mill, I visited those in their employ. 

Among them was a man that professed to 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 31 

be a kind of Uniyersalist preacher. He was 
a boss over a number of liands, and I was 
told was shrewd and fond of argument, and 
was doing much injury in propagating his 
opinions. Late one evening I called at his 
rooms. There was no one in but his wife. I 
conversed with her some time, and found her 
a pious Christian woman. I asked her about 
her husband. She burst into tears, and said 
he was a kind husband, but a mcked man; 
that he preached sometimes, and was a Uni- 
versalist. 

While I was urging her to labor and pray 
for his salvation, a fine-looking man, of a 
haughty mien and deportment, came in. 

I arose and introduced myself, and asked 

if he was Mr. V , the gentleman of the 

house. He rephed that he was. I then told 
him I was a colporteur visiting fi^om house to 
house, selling and gi^^g books, and talking 
and praying ^ith the peoj)le. 

" Oh, I have heard of you about here for 
two or three days. I am a Universahst, sir ; 
I do n't believe there is any such place as 
hell." I repUed that it would be well for 
many of us if that doctrine was true, and 



32 FIVE YEARS 

asked him how long he had been a Univer- 
salist. He said about eight years; that his 
mother had belonged to the orthodox, and 
taught him in his early years about a terrible 
place called hell, and that he knew no better 
till about eight years ago. That for three or 
four years after he heard the true doctrine of 
the salvation of all men, he was troubled 
with those foohsh prejudices; but for the 
last four years he had never had a solitary 
pang on that subject. 

I rephed that it was often hard to get rid 
of a mother's instructions and prayers; that 
it had taken the devil four years to silence 
his conscience, and get them put to sleep. 

^' Do you feel confident," I said, " that you 
are this moment prepared to enter heaven if 
you were to die?" "Yes," said he, "as cer- 
tain as I am that the sun rises and sets." 
" Well, ' said I, " is not this rather a toilsome 
world to live in?" ^^Yes," said he, "it is, 
and I have a full share of it." " Then," said 
I, " why not cut your throat, and go right to 
heaven this evening?" "Oh," said he, "I 
have my wife to provide for." " Oh," said I, 
" cut her throat, and take her along." " Oh," 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 33 

said he, " that would be wrong." " No/' said 
I, " if your creed is right, it cannot be wrong ; 
and even if it should, you would be done with 
all the consequences of the T\Tong as soon as 
you were dead." He hung his head, and 
made no further reply. I told him I hoped 
that he had seen the fallacy of his behef, and 
would at once abandon such soul-destroying 
opinions. I sold him several books, and left 
him. 

. As the men worked by turns all night in 
the rolling-mills, and it was difficult to gain 
access to them, one of the proprietors pro- 
posed that he would join me to visit them all 
the next Sabbath, when they often gathered 
in groups to play cards and drink. Accord- 
ingly the next Sabbath morning we were 
joined by a theological student, and com- 
menced going round the houses and rooms, 
near one hundred in number. 

Late in the evening we entered the apart- 
ments of Mr. V and his wife. They were 

sitting reading new books, which I think were 
those I had sold them. I said, " Good even- 
ing, Mi\ V . I have come to talk with you 

again, and I am glad to see you reading those 



34 FIVE YEARS 

books. I hope you have changed your mind 
on rehgious subjects." "No," said he, "I 
am more convinced than ever that I am 
right." " WeU," said I, "I want to ask you 
a few questions by the way of information, 
as you profess to have a near cut to heaven." 
Said he, "I am not going to answer anymore 
of your questions. I do n't hke to be criti- 
cized." I told him I would only ask him 
easy questions ; that I wanted to know what 
that scripture meant which speaks of a class 
of men who " shall not be forgiven, neither 
in this world, nor in tho world to come." 
Said he, "I am not going to answer any 
more questions." 

Mr. E said he would like to ask him 

one question. " There were two thieves cru- 
cified with Christ. He said to the one, * This 
day shalt thou be with me in paradise ;' where 
did the other go ?" He made no answer. 

We all three united in urging him to repent 
and beheve in Christ, but he made no answer. 
At last I said, " Brethren, unless God will 
hear and answer prayer in this man's behalf, 
he is a lost man." His wife was weeping as if 
her heart would break. We knelt in prayer, 



IN THE ALLEGHANIE8. 35 

and I think there were four earnest hearts 
lifted up to God. He sat still some minutes, 
but at last he knelt. When we rose from 
our knees the tears were running down his 
cheeks. I said, "Do you feel no * pangs' 
now?" With a sob that seemed to come 
from his heart, he said, " I do n't know what 
has come over me." We then pointed him to 
the Saviour, and told him we beheved his 
feelings were produced by the Spirit of God. 
Of all the penitents that I have ever seen, I 
hardly remember one who seemed so deeply 
moved as this man. During the time he re- 
mained in that place he seemed to be an en- 
tirely changed man. 

One day, accompanied by the Kev. Mr. 
J , we called at the office of a very fine- 
looking gentleman, and introduced the sub- 
ject of rehgion to him. He was rather surly 
and sceptical. I proposed to sell him a book, 
but he dechned, saying that he seldom read 
such books. At last I proposed to give him 
a copy of Nelson on Infidehty, and went on 
to say that it equalled any romance in inter- 
est. At last he said, " I have money plenty 
to buy books, and as you are so urgent about 



36 FIVE YEARS 

it, I will buy it, and read it ; and if it is not 
as good as you say it is, I will give you a 
thrashing the first time I catch you." I told 
him I would run the risk of that if he would 
read the book carefully. 

About ten days after we were passing 
again, and called on him. He met us in the 
most cordial manner. I told him I had called 
to see whether he would thrash me or not for 
the book I had sold him. " Oh," said he, "it is 
the best book I ever read. I would not tako 
five dollars for it, if I could not get another like 
it." "We found him deeply anxious about his 
soul. After a long talk with him, I told him 
I was about to close my labors there, and 
never expected to meet him again in this 
world, and urged him to meet me in heaven. 
With tears running down his cheeks, he said 

to Mr. J , "Will you not come and see 

me again?" Mr. J said with tears that 

he would, and he no doubt did very fre- 
quently. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 3T 



CHAPTEE IV. 

Calung- one day at a fine country-house in 
Western Pennsylvania, I found a prosperous 
Irish family of more than ordinary intelli- 
gence. I inquired if they wanted some good 
religious books. The father replied, " What 
kind of relagin do you teach?" I repUed, 
"The holy catholic religion." "Ah, it's not 
the Roman - catholic relagin. What objec- 
tion have you to the Roman -cathoUc rela- 
gin ?" I rephed that all that I desired was, 
to teach the people to repent and believe in 
the Lord Jesus Christ and to lead holy lives, 
and that I was not going about to ai^gue with 
people about their churches. Still he insist- 
ed on my telling him what objections I had 
to the Roman-cathohc church. 

At last I told him they violated the second 
commandment by the use of images in the 
worship of God. But this he denied. I asked 
him to get his Bible and compare it T\ith mine. 
He brought out the Douay Catechism to prove 
he was right, and told me that was his Bible. 



38 FIVE YEARS 

I got mine ; but lie forbade my reading it, as 
it was a heretic's Bible. I insisted on having 
Bible authority for the use of images in God's 
worship. As the old man seemed to be at a 
loss to defend his position, one of his daugh- 
ters, a beautiful girl, presented herself before 
me, and said, "I can give you Bible plenty 
for the use of images, and the good resulting 
from the use of them. What was it that Mo- 
ses put up on the pole for the IsraeHtes to 
look at when the fiery serpents bit them?" 
I explained to her that the brazen serpent 
was set up, not to be worshipped, but simply 
looked at as a type of Christ, to whom dying 
sinners may look and live. But all my efforts 
were in vain. As I left them, she was still 
asking me to repent, and come over to the 
true Roman-catholic church as the only place 
of safety. 

A few days after, the Eev. Mr. J re- 
quested me to visit the town of S , where 

he occasionally preached, and had made an 
appointment for me to address the people at 
night, preparatory to visiting all the families. 
He gave me a letter of introduction to one of 
his members, who lived a mile from the vil- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 89 

lage, and who he expected would go with me. 
I came to his house near dark, ahnost frozen. 
He received me very coldly, and neither of- 
fered me food or company. I inquired the 
way to towTi, and soon left. 

The night was dark, the snow deep, the 
cold intense, and I was an entire stranger in 
the place. As I rode along the street, every 
door and window was shut, till I came to a 
store. I tied my horse and stepped in, and 
found a large, fine-looking man sitting by the 
stove alone. By asking a few questions, I 

learned it was Mr. S , the proprietor of 

the town. I told him I was glad to make his 
acquaintance. That I had come there at the 
request of the Eev. Mr. J , to hold a meet- 
ing that night, and to spend a few days vis- 
iting his people and supplying them with good 
reKgious books, and I would be glad to have 
his counsel and advice as to the best way to 
do it. 

Said he, *' It depends very much, sir, on the 
kind of religious books you want to circulate 
here. I suppose you have the Confession of 
Faith of the Presbyterian chui^ch among them, 
and I can prove that it is full of falsehoods ; 



40 FIVE YEAES 

and more than that, I want you to know, sir, 
that I have made a promise to kick out of my 
house every man that comes in it that has 
graduated at Jefferson College, and studied 
theology at the Western Seminary." As he 
closed the. sentence, he stood up before me, as 
if he was going to make good his promise. I 
requested him to wait till I should explain my 
object. I told him I had no Confessions 
of Faith, nor any denominational books ; that 
they were all the books of the American Tract 
Society, and approved by nearly all evangel- 
ical Christians, and consequently not secta- 
rian. And as to the other objection, I had 
never graduated either at Jefferson College 
or the Western Theological Seminary, conse- 
quently he was barking up the wrong tree. 
" Why," said he, " are you not a Pres- 
byterian preacher?" "No, sir," said I, "I 
have not the honor to be a preacher." He 
turned instantly and walked out, leaving me 
^lone. 

I stepped to the door, and asked a little boy 

who was passing if there was a Mr. G 

living in the town. " Yes," said he, " he Hves 
in the adjoining house." I stepped to the 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 41 

door, and was cordially greeted by an old 
acquaintance. In a few minutes I was seated 
at a sumptuously supplied table, which I very 
much needed; and an hour- after was in a 
school -house, holding forth to the people, 
with my beUigerent friend for one of my hear- 
ers. I visited all the tow^n; but Mr. S 

carefully avoided meeting me, always turning 
away to shun me ; but I suppUed his family 
with a good stock of books. 

At the close of my labors in that town, I 
entered a very hilly region of country, and 

stopped over night with a Mr. TV , an 

aged, infirm man, who sent his son with me 
the next day to hunt up the cabins of the 
poor. The son had spent some years in a 
roving life, and seemed totally indifferent 
about religion. 

In the fii'st cabin we called at, we found a 
young woman in the last stages of a decline. 
I have seldom seen any soul so full of joy and 
peace. She talked more like an inhabitant 
of heaven than of earth. While we spoke of 
Christ's love, and what he had done for her, 
I saw the tears course down my companion's 



42 FIVE YEARS 

cheeks. When we left her he said, " EeHgion 
is a reality." 

After visiting a few more families, we came 
in sight of a beautiful farm, which lay in a 

valley. Mr. W said to me, " I will not 

go with you to that man's house. He is an 
unbeHever, and a shrewd fellow, and if you 
talk to him on religion as you have done to 
others, he will get mad, and insult you. His 
wife is pious ; but I have heard him say that 
when the preacher came to visit his family he 
kept out of the way, because he did not wish 
to insult him; and he will certainly insult 
you, if you speak to him on that subject." 
Said I, " He has the more need to be visited. 
Such persons are the very ones I am sent to 
hunt up ; but as he may take offence at you 
for leading me to his house, you may fall be- 
hind, and come up after me," which he con- 
cluded to do. 

As I approached the house, I got off my 
horse, and took my big saddle-bags, filled 
with books, on my arm, and stepped into the 
house. In a few minutes all the children were 
in. They were fine, inteUigent children ; and 
to my surprise, I recognized their mother as a 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 43 

once dashing young lady I had known well 
fifteen years before ; but she had entirely for- 
gotten me. 

In a few minutes in came my travelling 

companion and Mr. C with him; Mr. 

C 's face indicating great determination 

and firmness. I immediately began to hunt for 
a text to begin with, and chose a Uttle girl of 
three or four years old, w^hom I called to my 
side. I began to tell her about Jesus, and 
what he did to save sinners, and how deeply 
praying fathers and mothers felt for their 
dear children, whom they would soon meet 
at the bar of God. I asked her if father and 
mother did not pray for her. By this time 
the mother and the oldest daughter were 
weeping freely. I asked the mother if she 
W'Ould not rather see her children converted 
to God than any thing else. " Oh, yes," she 
exclaimed, "it burdens my heart." I cast 

my eye round towards Mr. C and Mr. 

"W , and both were weeping. 

"Mr. C ," said I, "don't you feel con- 
cerned about the souls of this interesting 
group of children which God has given you 
to train up for him?" "Not as much as I 



44 FIVE YEARS 

ought to do." His heart was so full he could 
scarcely utter one word. Said I, "Are you 
not a professor of religion ?" " No, I am not. 
I have been a very careless man on that sub- 
ject. When I was a young man I was very 
much concerned for a while, but I fell in with 
wicked young men, and read bad books, and 
I have entirely neglected religion ever since. 
But I don't know what has come over me 
now." - 

"I trust," said I, "it is the Spirit of God 
that has touched your heart, and I beseech 
you now to yield to his divine sohcitations ; 
not to delay for one moment. If you resist 
the Holy Ghost now, he may leave you for 
ever, and then your doom mil be sealed ; but 
if you now give up all for Christ, you will find 
peace, and there may be joy in heaven among 
the angels this moment." He cried out in 
the agony of his soul, " "What shall I do to be 
saved?" I urged him to enter that night on 
all the duties that God had enjoined on him; 
to read his Bible, and pray for himself and 
family. He pledged his word to me to do it. 
He kept that pledge. I prayed with him, sold 
him eighteen volumes of good books, and left 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 45 

the whole family in tears. He soon after 

joined the church'; and Mr. W , I was 

told, professed religion soon after, and attrib- 
uted his conversion to a day's travel with a 
colporteur. 

I held a prayer-meeting that night at the 

house of Mr. H , a man of remarkable 

piety and benevolence. He told me of an 
incident that marked his whole hfe, and made 
him what he was. Said he, " I served my 
time with a hard master to learn the wagon- 
making business. I had engaged to go, the 
day I was free, some forty miles to work as a 
journeyman. The evening before I was to 
start, a good man gave me his advice, and at 
the close asked me if I had money to pay my 
way. I told him I had no money, but could 
get there, as I was going to walk. He hand- 
ed me fifty cents, all he had, as a present. 
"While on my way I met a poor miserable 
man begging. He told me he was starving. 
I gave him the fifty cents, as I had no way 
to divide it. Before I had gone many rods I 
found a silver dollar lying on the road, over 
which he had stepped. I said to myself, 
' God sent ihisy and I determined to serve him 



4fi FIVE YEABS 

all the days of my life; and he has blessed 
me eyer since." 

In a few days I commenced labor along the 
line between "Western Pennsylvania and West- 
ern Virginia. The Eev. Mr. E took a 

deep interest in my work, and travelled more 
than a week with me. Our work made quite 
a stir among the people. The news spread 
that we were entering every house, talking 
and praying. 

We set a day to visit a neighborhood that 
was noted for its wickedness. There were 
several families owning fine farms who never 
entered a church. On the day set, we took 
an early start. As we approached the first 
house, we saw all the inmates running to the 
barn. We knocked at the door, but no an- 
swer. We went to the barn ; but before we 
reached it they were running across the ad- 
joining field. We understood the cause, and 
came back to the house, and put in at the 
window Baxter'^ Call and a few suitable 
tracts, with the earnest prayer for God's bless- 
ing to attend the reading of them. 

We went on to the next house, but it was 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 47 

closed, and no one to be found. We here 
also installed Baxter and several other preach- 
ers through the window; and so on till we 
had visited six famiUes. At every one of 
these houses the people either fled or con- 
cealed themselves at our approach. Mr. E 

pleasantly ^bserved, as we were poor men, 
he thought the best thing we could do for our 
worldly interests would be to take possession 
of the property, for he supposed they would 
never come to dispossess us. Great fear fell 
upon sinners at our approach. 

A few miles distant I held a prayer-meet- 
ing one night, and had a large crowd. At 
the close, I laid my books on the table, and 
told them that I would sell to any that wanted 
to buy. In a httle time the man of the house 
told me that a man had stolen his pocket fall; 
that he was a very bad man, and we should 
have a fight if we attempted to take them 
from him. Among them was a fine pocket 
Bible. So I concluded to let them go, and 
pray that God would overrule his wickedness 
for good. 

Some weeks after, while visiting along the 
Ohio river hills among the wood-choppers 



48 FIVE YEARS 

near the same place, I called at a cabin, and 
found a woman in deep distress about her 
soul. She told me she had got a book that 
was the cause. That a man had sold it to a 
neighbor. They were the fourth family that 
had read it, and all were concerned about 
their souls. I found all the families she 
named, and the book thus blessed was a copy 
of Baxter's Call which that man stole from 
me and sold to one of these families. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 49 



CHAPTER V. 

DuRiNa my labors in this region I was fre- 
quently requested to visit G , a town that 

had been laid out about the close of the Revo- 
lutionary war, and is noticed in the history 
of the Indian wars as being near the scene 
of some bloody struggles. It contained over 
three hundred inhabitants, but never had a 
church in it. A good man built one near 
by. 

The Rev. Mr. R sent a notice that he 

and I would be there on a certain evening to 
hold a meeting. A few came. He preached, 
and I made a statement about my work, and 
told them I was going to visit the town to 
talk and pray with each family, and supply 
them with rehgious books. I had engaged a 
class-leader in the Methodist church, who 
lived a few miles distant, to go with me. 

We entered the village the next morning 
soon after breakfast. The first four or five 
houses we stopped at we could find no one at 
home, and we soon found they were hiding 



50 FIVE YEAES 

from US. We could see heads out at the doors 
and windows as we approached the house ; 
but when we would knock there was no an- 
swer. As soon as we understood the matter, 
I told my colaborer they should not foil us 
in this way ; that I would install preachers in 
every house before I left the place. I im- 
mediately commenced pushing in the old hats 
that were stuck in the broken windows, and 
threw into the houses a Baxter's Call, Al- 
leine's Alarm, or a Sabbath Manual, and some 
of the most awakening tracts. 

We spent two days in this work. With all 
the skill we could use, we did not get into 
one third of the houses ; but we put good 
books into every one. 

Some few months after, a minister who was 
preaching near by found many interested 
about their souls. He held daily meetings 
for some time, and more than fifty professed 
faith in Christ ; many dating their first re- 
ligious impressions to the silent preachers 
thrown into their houses at the time of our 
visit. In 1861, on the railroad, I passed in 
sight of this town lying across the Ohio river, 
and instead of the old dilapidated village it 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 61 

was seventeen years before, it looked to be 
new and flourisliing. 

At the close of my labors in that community 

I went to B county, Va., at the request 

of Eev. Mr. W , who had a large country 

charge and was laid up by bad health. He 
requested me, in addition to visiting all the 
families, to hold prayer-meetings among his 
people every night. This I did for one month, 
and God's Spirit seemed to be . present at 
every meeting. Every one I talked with 
seemed to be moved by the Spirit. I sold 
more than $200 worth of books ; and a few 
months after, more than one hundred persons 
were added to the churches. Mr. W af- 
terwards stated that a large portion of them 
had been led to consideration by reading the 
books we scattered among them. 

He often gave me directions where to go, 
and what kind of people I should find them 
to be. On one occasion he directed me to a 
neighborhood where he had four or five fam- 
ilies living some miles from the church. The 
parents aU professors, with large irreligious 
families, and no family altars. 

The first family of them I called on, I soon 



52 FIVE YEARS 

found to be but little interested about relig- 
ion. I spoke witli the father as if he were a 
deyout praying man ; but told him I had no 
doubt there were some prayerless famihes in 
that neighborhood; and that God had de- 
clared that he would " pour out his fury on 
the famihes that call not on his name." I 
spoke of the sad effect of such ungodly hving 
on children, and urged him to try and talk 
with all his .neighbors about it, and to go with 
me a day or two till we should try to wake up 
such professors of religion. His family were 
present. I saw his very soul was pierced. 

I visited all the families the same way. 
God's Spirit seemed to stir every soul. In a 
few months after, the pastor was able to visit 
them, and found that each had estabUshed 
the family altar. Each one resolved that he 
would begin to pray in his own family, and 
then he could go and urge others to do the 
same. Neither of them supposed that I sus- 
pected them of living without prayer till they 
began to compare notes ; and then they found 
I had talked to all the same way. They sent 
me their thanks by their pastor for " catching 
them with guile." 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 53 

In another neighborhood, I was urged by 
a very good man to visit his brother-in-law, 
who he told me was a wicked man, and rais- 
ing a large family like heathen. He told me 
that he was a gentleman in his behavior to 
strangers, and would treat me kindly ; but to 
secure for me a kind reception, he sent with 
me a young man who was a nephew both of 
himself and of the gentleman. The day was 
extremely cold, and the distance some four or 
five miles. We visited several cabins along 
the river hills, and expected to reach his house 
about noon, and remain there till the next 
day. 

About one o'clock we came to the place. 
It seemed to be the abode of plenty. We 
tied our horses, and entered a large front room. 

Mr. , the head of the family, was in it 

alone, shelling corn on a machine, keeping up 
a hot fire by burning the cobs. His nephew 
introduced me to him, but he scarce looked at 
me, spoke very Uttle, and went on with his 
work, without asking me even to sit down. 
We both sat some time without a word being 
spoken, when the young man passed through 
into another room, where the family were talk- 



54 FIVE YEARS 

ing. As soon as I got warm, I concluded to 
try and do my work and leave tte house, as 
every thing looked rather gloomy. 

He was a big, fierce-looking man. His coun- 
tenance indicated that he was a very wicked 
man, which proved to be the fact. I some- 
times thought it would be best to leave him 
without saying any thing, but my conscience 
would not let me do that. At last I said, '^ Mr. 

C , I am engaged in distributing good 

rehgious books, published by the American 
Tract Society, and I have called to supply 
you and your family with them." I had scarce- 
ly got the words spoken, when he sprang right 
before me, with his fist clinched, and called 
me a horse-thief and robber, and every vile 
name that a vile tongue could use, inter- 
spersed with the most awful oaths I ever 
heard. He rubbed his fist under my nose, 
and swore he would smash my face into a 
jelly. I sat still for some time without speak- 
ing, in the hope that he would stop, that I 
might reason with him ; but it was in vain. 

At last I thought, if I am the cause of this 
man's sinning so much, I will leave him. I rose 
to my feet and said, " Mr. C , if you wiU 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 55 

stop a moment till I speak, I will leave your 
house. I came here at the special request of 

Mr. E , your brother-in-law, to try to do 

good to you and your family. And now, sir, 
I warn you, that if you do not repent you will 
perish. I leave a message from God to you 
on this table," placing there Baxter's Call and 
a number of tracts ; " and if you reject them, 
they will meet you as witnesses on the judg- 
ment-day." The wicked man quailed, and 
tried to make apologies for his abuse of me ; 
but I told him to ask God for pardon, and not 
me, for I was not in the least injured. I never 
saw the place or the man afterwards ; but I 
heard he soon went to ruin. None of the fam- 
ily showed their faces during the interview. 

Eighteen years have now passed since these 
labors were performed, and sufficient time has 
elapsed for all the dust and excitement to pass 
away ; and on a calm review of that period of 
my life and labors, I look on it as the most 
important of any through which I ever passed : 
not in actual results, but in the development 
of a great system of evangelization, which has 
carried salvation to thousands who had never 
been reached by saving truth. A few had pre- 



56 FIVE YEAKS 

vioTisly entered this field of Christian effort 
for the destitute, and done much, north and 
west ; but this was the beginning of the work 
in the middle and southern states, which has 
reached millions of all classes and conditions, 
both bond and free. As to myself, I found it 
the best school I ever entered for spiritual 
and intellectual improvement, and if I have 
since been the instrument of any good to my 
fellow-men, the labors of the httle time refer- 
red to prepared me for it. 

At the close of this month's work, two gen- 
tlemen called on me one evening, and re- 
quested me to take a walk in the village of 

P- . I was soon led into a tailor's shop, 

and had my measure taken ; and then from 
one store to another, till a fine new suit, from 
head to foot, was selected, costing near fifty 
dollars. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 51 



CHAPTEE VI. 

Apkil 1, 1845, I commenced my labors in 

the town of F , in Western Virginia. As 

soon as tlie object of my visit to that region 
was known, I received a cordial welcome from 
a large majority of the people, who did all 

they conld to aid me in my work. Mr. P , 

a yonng lawyer at that time, and since gov- 
ernor of "Western Virginia, volunteered to go 
with me to every house in the town. His 
high position and universal popularity made 
the work pleasant and successful. In three 
days my buggy load of books were circulated 
in the village. 

I immediately replenished my stock, and 
commenced my work in the .country among 
the mountains. It was hke a translation from 
suiJight into darkness — from a high civihza- 
tion into one of ignorance and superstition, 
with here and there a family of wealth and 
refinement. 

The very broken, rugged state of the coun- 
try, with a sparse population, rendered it 



58 FIVE YEARS 

impossible for the people to support either 
schools or churches. Consequently in many- 
isolated communities whole families grew up 
without any one knowing the alphabet, and 
very few places had preaching more than 
once in a month, and that on a week-day in 
some log cabin to a few women. I have vis- 
ited as many as ten families in succession, in 
one case fourteen, without finding a Bible. 
It will hardly be thought strange that youth 
of both sexes were often found who could 
not tell who is the Saviour of sinners, and 
that when they were told of Christ dying 
for sinners, they would look incredulous and 
say, we live so much out of the way that we 
never hear any news. They often lived in 
small cabins, without any furniture but such 
as they made with an axe and an auger. All 
they raised to eat was corn and potatoes, with 
a few hogs ; most of their meat being that of 
the various wild animals which abounded in 
the mountains. They were mostly kind and 
hospitable, and seemed to be sorry that they 
could not accommodate me better. I shall 
endeavor faithfully to describe one journey, 
which will represent many more. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 59 

About the time I went into that region, a 
new missionary circuit had been laid out by 
the Methodist Protestant church through a 
broken mountain country, where the gospel 
had never been preached ; and the Eey. Mr. 

was appointed to go round it once in 

each month, which required a ride of more 
than one hundred miles, most of the way by 
mere bridle paths. 

He had been once or twice round the cir- 
cuit before I became acquainted with him. 
As soon as he learned my business he invited 
me to go with him. He told me the people 
w^ere without books of any kind, that very 
few could read, and that many of them were 
not half civiUzed ; that at one house, where 
he spent the night, they cut off the skirts of 
his saddle to sole their moccasins, and at an- 
other the woman cut off the tail of his over- 
coat to make a pair of pants for a little boy. 
I agreed to go, and at the set time we filled 
each of our saddle-bags with little books and 
tracts, and our pockets with lunch. 

The first appointment was some twenty 
miles distant, and we had to start the even- 
ing before. We stopped over night with a 



60 FIVE YEABS 

wealthy Cliristian family, and fared sumptu- 
ously. 

The next day we rode twelve miles to 
the place where he was to preach. They 
had a church built of round logs. It had no 
floor but the ground, and was neither chinked 
nor daubed, consequently it was only used in 
warm weather. The house was full at the 
appointed hour. More than half of the con- 
gregation were barefooted, and but few had 
on them more than two garments. Most of 
the men came in with their guns in their 
hands, and a good supply of small game they 
had killed by the way. The guns were all 
set up in the corner of the church, and the 
game laid beside them. 

At the request of Mr. C- I conducted 

the service. The constant responses and 
loud amens indicated the deep interest they 
seemed to feel. At the close of the service 
I requested them to keep their seats, and told 
them I would go round and give each a tract 
or httle book. More than half the families 
represented were destitute of the Bible. The 
tracts and books were received with very great 
joy, though few could read a word in them. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 61 

At the close we had to ride some miles to 
a stopping place for the night. We found 
the cabin small and destitute of any seats ex- 
cept stools. The beds were poles put through 
the corners, covered with the skins of deers 
and bears. Many of the spaces between the 
logs were wide enough for the dogs and cats 
to pass out and in at pleasure. The food was 
bread made of corn ground in a hand mill, 
or pounded in a hominy block. The meat 
was coon or opossum, and the coffee made 
of chestnuts. The night was spent in self- 
defence against unseen foes, and in dread of 
snakes. After partaking of a breakfast sim- 
ilar to the dinner and supper just described, 
and praying with the family, we left them. 

Our appointment for that day was about 
twelve miles distant, with a constant succes- 
sion of mountains to cross. We stopped at 
all the cabins by the way, which were about 
like that just referred to, with one exception ; 
and as the house and family were different 
from any that I have ever seen, I shall try to 
describe them. 

The cabin was about eighteen feet square ; 
had been the birthplace of a large family; 



62 FIVE YEARS 

had neitlier floor — except the earth — ^npper 
story, chimney, chair, table, or bed, except a 
pile of straw in one corner, and an old spin- 
ning wheel and loom. The family we saw 
consisted of the father, mother, and five 
daughters, no one of which, we supposed, 
would weigh less than one hundred and fifty 
pounds. Each of the females had on a sin- 
gle garment made of coarse Hnen, held on by 
a drawing-string round the neck, all fleshy 
and hearty, while we could not see any thing 
for them to live upon. 

No one of them knew a letter in the alpha- 
bet, or who was the Saviour of sinners. They 
were children of nature isolated from the 
world, equally ignorant of both its vices and 
its virtues. "We spent more than an hour 
trying to teach them the alphabet of Christi- 
anity, and then commended them to God. 
They seemed amazed at what we said ; God* 
only knows the results. 

We reached the place where our evening 
meeting was to be held after one o'clock, ex- 
hausted with hunger and heat. The cabin 
was but httle better than the one just de- 
scribed ; it contained some kind of table and 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 63 

a few stools, but iiad neither door nor floor, 
and cattle and hogs ran into it to avoid the 
flies when they chose. 

Mr. C , whose patience was nearly ex- 
hausted, told the woman that we were almost 
starved, and to hurry and get us something 
to eat, and to make it as clean and as good as 
she could. The children were sent to borrow 
tools ; a flre was soon blazing under an ar- 
bor made of bushes near the house ; a pail 
of meal set beside it, waiting for the skillet 
to heat, out of which the hens helped them- 
selves every time she turned her back to 
them. The children soon returned with a 
little coffee-pot minus the handle, and with a 
knife and a fork one prong lacking. 

We were soon invited in to our dinner from 
under the shade of a tree where we had ob- 
served the whole process. The table was a 
block of wood, with four legs to hold it up, 
and a stool at each side for us to sit on. 
Some pet pigs were under it waiting for the 
crumbs : they tramped on our toes, which led 
us to kick them ; but our kind hostess soon 
made the children catch them and confine 
them behind my back in a big gumm, a tub 



64 FIVE YEARS 

sawn off a hollow log, whicli treatment, from 
their noise, they seemed to dislike very much. 

Soon after our meal was finished the peo- 
ple began to gather in to hear the gospel. 
The cabin was more than full, with the same 
appearance of the congregation as last de- 
scribed. We supplied all with books and 
tracts — in most cases with the first book they 
ever had. The night was spent much like 
the previous one, food and lodging about the 
same. 

The next morning we rode nine miles to 
meet another appointment at eleven o'clock. 
By the time we reached the place I was so 
sick that I had to lie down, while brother 

C preached to the people from Jeremiah 

6 : 16. At the close we supplied all with lit- 
tle books and tracts, and received many 
thanks. The dinner was set under a shed 
outside of the house, but the sight of it sent 
me out to the shade of a tree so sick that I 
could not stand on my feet. 

I then told brother C that I should be 

compelled to make my escape to some place 
where I could get something to eat and take 
some rest ; and asked him to take all the 



IN THE ALLEGHAXIES. 65 

books and give them away at each appoint- 
ment to the best advantage he could. 

At two o'clock I was on my horse, which, 
happily for me, had been along the road be- 
fore, and was suffering from hunger- as much 
as his rider. In six hours he was standing 

at the steps of Mr. S 's house, two miles 

from the town of F , from which we start- 
ed three days before. I was well acquainted 

with Mr. S and his family, having been 

frequently there ; but fever had dethroned 
my reason, which did not return till I was 
taken in and my head bathed with cold wa- 
ter, and I had drank a cup of coffee. 

It was three days before I was sufficiently 
recovered to resume my work. We had vis- 
ited twenty-seven families, talked and prayed 
with them all, given them books and tracts, 
and held three meetings. One half of the 
people were without any part of a Bible. As 
for other books they had none, and not one 
in ten could read a word. 

I have detailed this one journey of three 
days not only to show the condition of this 
portion of our country, but as Uttle more than 
a fair representation of destitute parts of 



66 FIVE YEABS 

many states in the Union. K each colpor- 
teur of the Tract Society who has visited 
these dark, broken, isolated regions of our 
country for the last eighteen years, had kept a 
journal of all the ignorance and wretchedness 
he met, it would have been the most interesting 
missionary journal the world ever saw. Their 
reports would differ as widely as the reports 
of those whom Joshua sent out to visit the 
promised land. "While some would bring in 
the rich clusters of Eshcol, others, with equal 
truthfulness, could say that the land was in- 
habited by giants, whose walls were igno- 
rance and superstition. 

I was often reminded in my journeys of the 
early pioneers of our country who went 
through the forests, tomahawk in hand, blaz- 
ing the trees as a signal of their intended 
occupancy of the land at some future time. 
These visits were the Christian pioneer's 
way-marks, not blazed on the trees with axe 
or tomahawk, but blazed on the hearts of 
men in a state of nature by kind Christian 
words, and sealed with earnest prayer; while 
the books and tracts, including many Bibles 
and Testaments, were deeds of trust to those 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 6T 

that faithftilly used tliem ; and many by them 
have secured a title to eternal life. 

The books were like Jacob's well — the dig- 
ger was gone — but they have quenched the 
thirst of many a weary traveller on life's jour- 
ney, and their smoked pages are still crying, 
"Ho, every one that thirsteth," come and 
partake of the waters of Hfe " without money 
and without price." A poor woman who 
had a small tract given her, on her death- 
bed had it brought to her, when she kissed 
it, and said, "This led me to my dear Sav- 
iour." 



68 FIVE YEARS 



CHAPTEE VII. 

I VISITED an old woman, who told me tliat 
soon after she was married some one lent her 
Doddridge's Eise and Progress of EeUgion 
in the Soul, and that it was the means of the 
conversion of herself and her husband; that 
he had died happily some years ago, but she 
had never been able to get a copy of the book 
since. I then presented her with one, and 
she wept for joy. I asked her if she had a 
Bible; she said, "No;" that they had a Bible 
when her husband died, but some time after 
a little school was opened in the neighbor- 
hood, and she wanted her four little boys 
taught to read, but had no books nor any 
way to get them, and she had to cut her Bible 
into four parts to make each of them a book, 
and they soon went to pieces, and she lost 
her Bible. I then gave her a Bible, and her 
joy seemed complete. 

On another occasion I sent a notice that I 
would be at a little church in a certain neigh- 
borhood to aid them in organizing a Sabbath- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 69 

school, and to supply tte destitute with books. 
After exhorting for some time, and arranging 
for the Sabbath-school, I distributed all my 
stock, and was about to leave. 

A young woman came up to me, having 
just reached the place, and asked me for a 
book. I told her I had given away all that 
I had brought with me. She burst into tears, 
and said, " I left my babe, three weeks old, 
in the field where my husband was hoeing 
corn, and walked five miles in my bare feet to 
get a book; and now I am disappointed." In 
a few minutes an old woman who had seen 
seventy winters came to me with a crutch 
under one arm, and a cane in the other hand, 
and told me she had come two miles to get 
books for her sons, who were raising large 
families over the mountains, that were as wild 
as the deers. I returned soon, and gave the 
necessary supply. 

One day a man entered my room wearing 
a hunting-shirt and moccasins, with a gun in 
his hand and a long knife hanging to a belt 
at his side, and asked me if I was the man 
that gave books to the poor people in the 
mountains. I told him I was engaged in that 



10 FIVE YEARS 

business. "Well," said he, "we live in an 
out of tlie way place, where we have neither 
schools nor preaching ; and we met together 
last Sunday to see if we could not raise a 
Sunday-school, and teach our children to 
read, but all the books we could find was one 
New Testament; and some one said there 

was a man in F that was giving books to 

the poor, and so I have come to see you about 
it." I gave him all the light I could as to 
forming and conducting a Sunday-school, and 
added twenty Testaments, with fifty small 
volumes of Tract Society books, and some 
tracts. He soon had them all in the bosom 
of his hunting shirt, and I have seldom seen 
a happier man. 

The next Sabbath the school was started. 
In six months a church was organized, and 
soon after a little church built, and a man of 
God was preaching to them once each month. 
That bosom fall of books was the means God 
blessed to this result. 

On another occasion I stopped over night 
with a good man, who related to me the fol- 
lowing fact. 

" A few years ago a minister came to my 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 71 

house late on Saturday night on his way to 

preach at L , about thirty miles distant. 

Finding he could not reach the place in time 
to meet his appointment, he told me if I 
would gather in my neighbors, he would 
preach for us. There were but a few families 
in all this valley, and so far as I knew, he was 
the first preacher that ever had been in it, at 
least he preached the first sermon. I sent 
my boys out and gathered in my neighbors. 
At the close of his sermon he gave every one 
a tract. Among the rest he gave one to a 
poor widow with a large family, but neither 
she nor any one of her children knew a letter. 
She took it home with her -without any know- 
ledge of its contents. 

" The next morning she returned and re- 
quested my wife to read it to her, which she 
did. 'Well,' said she, 'it is a nice thing to 
read ; I do wish I could do it.' She took the 
tract home, and returned the next day to 
have it read again; and during the reading, 
the tears ran down her cheeks. 'Oh,' said 
she to my wife, ' do you think I could learn 
to read ?' ' Yes,' she said to her, ' no doubt 
you can.' So my wife got a New England 



12 FIVE YEARS 

primer we had, and went over the letters a 
few times with her. She took home both the 
primer and the tract. The next morning she 
returned again, and while the tract was read- 
ing, her face was Ut up with joy, and peace 
came into her soul. In a few hours she was 
able to repeat the alphabet. ^ And now,' said 
she, ^if you wiU only learn me how to put two 
of them together, and give them a name, I 
can learn myself.' This was soon done; and 
as soon as she went home, she taught her 
children all she had learned. In a few months 
she and her children could read aU that was 
in the primer. We have now a good church 
here, and she and most of her children are 
members of it. She seldom sees a tract but 
with tears of joy she exclaims, ^If it had not 
been for one of these little tracts, I and my 
children might have remained in ignorance 
and sin.' " 

One of the great difficulties I had to en- 
counter was the large number of families that 
could not read. These I found every day. 
When I would show my books and urge them 
to buy, the reply was, " Oli, none of us canH 
ready I soon saw the necessity of planning 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 73 

some means to remedy this evil, and began 
to establisli little Snnday-scliools in each 
neighborhood. I would hunt up the best 
reader I could find for a teacher, furnish 
them with a small hbrary of books, give them 
the best direction I could how to conduct it, 
and set them to work. Although some of 
these schools were very superficially conduct- 
ed, and in many cases there was nothing done 
in them but teaching young and old to read, 
still they had the effect of rousing the mind 
to the acquisition of knowledge, and prepar- 
ing the way of the Lord. Many of these 
schools accomplished great things, and re- 
sulted in the estabhshing of Httle churches. 
Others seemed to fail, except so far as they 
woke in the minds of some a thirst for know- 
ledge. 

Some famihes I could not prevail on to 
take a book as a gift, for fear there was some 
trick about it. Clock pedlars had been 
through some portions of the country a while 
before, sold the cheap clocks at thirty dollars 
apiece, and took notes for the pay, which 
had been collected in many cases by dis- 
tress-sales. They would tell me how they 



14 FIVE YEABS 

had been treated, and tliat they were afraid 
I should send some one for tjie pay. I often 
avoided this objection by lending the book, 
and writing on it, " Loaned till I call for it." 
Another great difficulty we had to encoun- 
ter with these unlettered masses was their 
prejudice against education. Almost every 
day I had to meet this objection : " Oh, I do n't 
want my children learned to read; it will 
spoil them. I have got along very well with- 
out reading, and so can they." 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 75 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

I HAD now been about ten montlis in tlie 
colporteur work, and seeing the great neces- 
sity for scores of men to engage in it, I 
thought I could raise the salaries, and employ- 
one or two others to carry it on. I soon 
raised $150 to pay a man for a year, and 
Providence directed me to a good man to 
do the work. I then succeeded in finding 
another good man, and raising his salary; 
and in one month, by the Divine blessing, I 
raised and paid over for the support of col- 
portage $750, and these efforts were continued 
till the colporteur work was extended through- 
out the more destitute regions in all Western 
Virginia. 

I had made an arrangement to visit E 

county, some forty miles distant, and spend a 
month in colporteur labor. On my way I 
had to cross a river by a ferry-boat. Two 
travellers crossed with me. When we mount- 
ed our horses on the opposite side of the 
river, one of them asked me if I was going on 



76 FIVE YEARS 

a long journey witli sucli a heavy load on my 
horse over that mountain country. I told 
him I had my horse loaded with religious 
books, and some Bibles, and that I was en- 
gaged in supplying destitute regions with the 
word of life, and would soon lighten my load. 

"Why," said he, "are there any families 
to be found without the Bible ?" Yes, I told 
him, there were many in all parts of our coun- 
try. " "Well," said he, " I do n't beheve there is 
a family in my county without a Bible." Said 
I, "What part are you from?" "From Green 
county, Penn." "How far," said I, "from 
the town of C ?" "Five miles," said he. 

Four weeks ago, I repUed, I was there, 
and made an address before one of the Pres- 
byteries of the Cumberland church, in which 
I spoke of the destitutions of our country and 
our mode of supplying them, when the Rev. 

Mr. H followed me with a speech in which 

he said " he believed one third of the families 

in C , in which we were then assembled, 

were without the Bible." Another minister 
present doubted it. I told them I was there 
to visit the town, and would begin the next 
morning. A good man volunteered to go 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 7T 

with me. We spent three days at the work, 
and found that out of one hundred and fifty- 
seven families, fifty -foitr had no Bible. 

On my way to K — ^, late in the evening 
I began to inquire for some place where I 
could spend the night, as the indications 
seemed to be that a hard night's lodging 
was before me. As I inquired at each little 

cabin, they told me that "Parson "W ," 

a few miles ahead, kept lodgers. As these 
mountain miles are slowly measured by a 
tired man and horse, I did not reach "Par- 
son W 's" till near nine o'clock at night. 

When I entered his little cabin, he and his 
wife and granddaughter were at a supper of 
corn-bread and buttermilk. I asked for lodg- 
ing, which was granted, and was at once in- 
vited to supper. As soon as the parson was 
done eating, he went and put up my horse. 

On his return, I asked him if he had any 
pastoral charge. "Yes," said he, "I built a 
church on my own land close by, and preach 
there every other Sunday." We were soon 
engaged in a rehgious conversation, and my 
views of truth were soon tested. "Well," 
said the old parson, "I thought you was a 



78 FIVE YEAES 

Methodist preacher, but I find I was mista- 
ken ; but I guess you are a Presbyterian, which 
is no better." Finding the old man belonged 
to what was called the Ironsides, or rigid 
Antinomians, I thought it quite useless to 
talk to him. 

Before I could get rid of him he made me 
tell my business. " Well," said he, "you are 
going about plundering the country. It was 
the Bible, Tract, and Missionary Societies 
that broke up the country in 1837 and '38." 

As I was tired, and proposed to go to bed, 
" Well," said he, " there is a bed in that cor- 
ner for you." "As you are a preacher," said 
I, " of course you have family prayer, and I 
would prefer waiting to join you in it." "Ah," 
said he, " every one does their own praying 
here." " Is it possible," said I, " that you are 
a preacher, and have no family prayer, when 
God has said he will pour out his fury on the 
families that caU not on his name?" " Oh," 
said he, " you may pray if you please." See- 
ing an old family Bible on a shelf, I took it 
down, and read a part of the seventh of Mat- 
thew. I commented on the verse, " Strive to 
enter in at the strait gate," etc. ' The moment 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 19 

prayer was over, lie said, " I do n't believe a 
word you said." I was soon in becT and 
asleep, being tired. 

"When I awoke there was a good fire, and 
the old man sitting beside it. I was np in a 
few minutes. "I am glad you are up," said 
he, " as there is another point I must discuss 
with you." In a few minutes I quoted proofs 
from the Bible too clear to be resisted; when 
the old woman, who was of huge dimensions, 
sprang out of bed in her night-dress, and pre- 
senting herself before me, said, " Do n't talk 
to that fellow ; he is a Yankee, and he is set- 
ting traps to catch you." The old man soon 
disappeared to attend to his still-house and 
cattle, and the old woman and granddaughter 
occupied the whole front of the fire, making 
their toilets ; the old lady, in her earnest con- 
versation, frequently using a long wooden fire- 
poker in close proximity to my head. 

As the granddaughter was sitting near me, 
completing her toilet, I spoke to her about 
her soul, and offered her the Dairyman's 
Daughter. This roused the old woman again ; 
and the old man, returning about the same 
time, forbade her to touch the book. The 



80 FIVE YEABS 

girl cried bitterly, and said it was such a 
pretf^ book she did want it, and there was 
not a book except the old Bible in the house. 
The girl's tears prevailed, provided I would 
write a receipt in it that it was paid for, which 
was done. 

As soon as breakfast was over, and my 
horse ready, I asked for my bill. " One dol- 
lar,'' said the old man; "I make it a rule, 
when any of you Yankees come this way, to 
fleece you as well as I can." This man was 
rich ; had a great distillery, and I was credi- 
bly informed would take a bottle of whiskey 
with him to the church, and at the close of his 
services tell his people what a fine run of whis- 
key he had just had, and to come and taste it. 

About a month after, on my return home, 
I stopped to stay all night some few miles 
from there, when lo. Parson W had stop- 
ped to stay too ; but as soon as he saw me, he 
ordered his horse, and left. I had told about 
my lodging with him ; and as the laws of Vir- 
ginia at that time imposed a fine of twenty dol- 
lars on any one who had no license charging 
for lodging, some one had told the old man 
that I was going to bring him before the court. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 81 



CHAPTEE IX. 

About this time an incident of peculiar in- 
terest took place. The Key. Mr. Q had 

invited me to visit the town of C , and I 

had set a day to be at his house. Late in the 
evening of the day appointed, I arrived in the 
town ; and while driving along the street, 
looking for his house, I saw him standing on 
his portico, beckoning me to him. 

As soon as I had alighted from my buggy, 
he gave me a cordial shake of the hand, and 
said, "You have come just in time to see and 
hear one of the greatest dignitaries in the 
state of Virginia." I observed that I was 
perhaps a Uttle different from many others ; 
that I would not go a square to see a great 
man, unless he was a great good man, " Well," 
said he, "he ought to be a good man; he's 
the bishop of the Eoman-cathoUc church for 
this state ; and as he is the first Hve bishop 
of the Holy CatJiolic church who has ever been 
here, he is attracting a great deal of attention. 
He preached in the court-house this morning, 



82 FIVE YEARS 

and it was crowded ; and lie is going to preach, 
here for several days and nights. He has one 
or two priests with him, and they have come 
to plant a church here. "Will you go and hear 
him?" "Yes," said I; "if you go, I will go 
with you." 

As soon as tea was over, we went to the 
court-house, and it was crowded. In a little 
time the bishop arose, and without any intro- 
ductory services, gave out his text: "Thou 
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my 
church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it." He went on to define " the gates 
of hell" as the various Protestant sects, and 
wound up by trying to prov^ that Peter was 
the first pope, and got the keys, and that the 
successors of Peter still held the keys, and no 
one could enter heaven without going through 
the Catholic church. His sermon was deliv- 
ered with earnestness and eloquence, and 
made a deep impression, as very few of all 
present were well informed on those matters. 

He made much for his cause out of the de- 
nominational strifes with which that region 
had been afflicted, and I heard many say 
"Amen" to some of his thrusts. He an- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 83 

noTinced tliat lie would preacL. the next morn- 
ing from the text, " Search the scriptures, for 
in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they 
are they which testify of me." 

We returned to brother Q 's, and sat to 

a late hour consulting what we had better do. 
Here was a man of Jesuitical cunning, mis- 
representing Protestantism before a commu- 
nity ill quahfied to form correct opinions. I 

urged Mr. Q to contradict some of his 

false statements ; and after praying over the 
matter, we retired. 

The next morning, at the appointed hour, 
the house was crowded, though there were 
not one dozen Eoman-cathohcs in the com- 
munity. Owing to the crowd, Mr. Q and 

I got separated. I lost sight of him, and for 
want of a seat elsewhere, got up into a win- 
dow. In a Httle while the bishop announced 
the text, "Search the scriptures," and also 
announced that he would preach at night fr^om 
the text, "These were more noble than those 
in Thessalonica, in that they searched the 
scriptures daily." 

The ground taken in this sermon was, that 
searching the scriptures by the common peo- 



84 FIVE YEABS 

pie had led to all the religious heresies in the 
world, and had raised up more sects than 
there were chapters in the Bible. That there 
was but one true church, and out of all only- 
one could be right. That Protestants called 
Luther a great reformer, and he was told 
there were no Lutherans in that town ; con- 
sequently, if Luther was right they were all 
wrong ; and if they were right, Luther was 
wrong, and could not be a great reformer. 

He said the Catholic church could not be 
wrong ; that she was infallible ; she was "the 
pillar and ground of the truth." He pictured 
the quarrels among Protestants in the most 
hideous manner, and described a heaven full 
of such uncongenial characters, till the pic- 
ture was ridiculous; and I saw that many 
present were dehghted with it. 

At the close of his sermon, or tirade against 
the Protestant rehgion, he sat down. I rose 
up in the window, much excited, to see if the 
Eev. Mr. Q would not call him to an ac- 
count, when I was much gratified to see the 

meek and gentle form of Mr. Q slowly 

rising about the middle of the house. Said 
he: 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 85 

"Bishop, yoTi said in your sermon last 
night that there were now two hundred mill- 
ions of faithful Catholic children in the world, 
against which the gates of hell could not pre- 
vail. Will you be kind enough to tell us 
where they are?" 

The bishop rose with a half-courteous and 
half-disdainful smile, and said, "You need 
not ask me such a question as that; the re- 
gions they occupy are all marked on your 
own Protestant geographies ; your little boys 
in the streets can point you to them, where 
they have been marked in black lines," and 
took his seat. 

"WeU," said Mr. Q , "I would prefer 

you would name the countries to which they 
belong." 

He rose again with a most indignant frown. 
Said he, " I suppose it would be rather hum- 
bhng to one who calls himself a preacher to 
go to the little boys for information, so I will 
name some, at least, of the countries that are 
CathoUc : France, Austria, most of Germany, 
Hungary, and Poland; and we shall soon have 
England, as part of the church there is only 
separated from us now by name ; and Spain 



86 FIVE YEABS 

and Mexico are ours entirely;" and he took 
his seat again. 

" Well/' said Mr. Q , " do you think we 

should gain any thing as a nation by chang- 
ing our Protestant religion for that of Mexico 
and Spain?" and he took his seat. 

The bishop arose still more indignant in 
manner, and said, "I really cannot under- 
stand what you mean, sir, unless you refer to 
your boasted liberties in this country ; but if 
that is what you mean, sir, I can tell you I 
would rather go to heaven from Mexico or 
Spain, than to hell from the midst of all your 
boasted liberties." 

By this time the audience had become in- 
tensely interested. Said I, " Mr. Bishop, I want 
to ask you a few questions by way of gaining 
information. If I understood jou right last 
night, you said your church was infaUible ; 
that it never had erred, and never could err." 

He repHed very indignantly, "I said, sir, 
that the Catholic church never had erred, 
and never could err." 

"Well, sir," said I, "it was once right to 
put Protestants to death for their religion, 
and of course it is still right." 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 8t 

He replied, "That is a Protestant false- 
hood, sir; the church never put any one to 
death." 

Said I, " Sir, I can prove what I say by 
the faithful records of history." 

"Protestant authority — we could not ad- 
mit such testimony, sir." 

"Well," said I, "whether you admit it or 
not, the blood of martyred millions is cry- 
ing for vengeance, and the day of divine rec- 
ompense will erelong come." 

After a number of questions from Mr. 

Q and myself of similar import, Mr. 

Q said, "The general opinion is that 

General Washington and General Jackson 
died good men and went to heaven. What 
is your opinion, bishop ?" 

He repHed contemptuously, "Why, sir, we 
do n't pretend to know whether they are in 
heaven or not; those are the secret things 
that belong to God." 

"Stop, bishop," said I, "you said last 
night that you held the keys of the kingdom 
of heaven in your church, and that to you it 
was given to open and shut the door; and I 
now demand of you as one of these door- 



88 FIVE YEABS 

keepers, to tell us whether you have let in 
the immortal Washington or not." 

In a few moments the call was coming from 
every part of the house, '^ Tell us whether you 
have let Washington into heaven or not." 

The bishop tore his surpHce off in a rage, 
and put out of the house with one or two 
priests after him — the crowd following him, 
and calling out, " Come back and answer the 
question about our beloved Washington." 
But he went on, ordered his horse, pro- 
nounced a curse on the place, closed his 
meetings, and left the town. The excitement 
of the crowd was most intense. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 



CHAPTEE X. 

I HAD now been in my second year of la- 
bor for some months, during whicli I had 
made some long journeys, and seen some 
hard service. 

I made an arrangement with Mr. M , a 

very intelligent gentleman whom I had em- 
ployed a few months before as a colporteur, 
to accompany me. The whole tour required 
us to travel near four hundred miles. More 
than two thirds of the way the country was 
wild and romantic, the population sparse and 
rude. Few thought it safe to go unarmed. 

On the day set I met Mr. M at C , 

where he resided. To my surprise he had 
provided a pistol for each of us. With some 
persuasion I took one, but soon got it to the 
bottom of my saddle-bags. 

The first day we reached W , where we 

found a young preacher who had been wait- 
ing there some days for an escort over the 
same route, fearing to travel the road alone. 
We all started in company early the next 



90 FIVE YEARS 

morning, with the understanding that we had 

to reach G , a new county-to^vn thirty 

miles distant, or lodge in the woods. Noth- 
ing special occurred that day, except that an 
enormous rattlesnake crossed the road before 
us and frightened our horses. "We called 
at the door of all the cabins we saw, and 
preached Christ to the people, and gave them 
books. We reached G- ^ late in the even- 
ing, and found a pious lawyer who had just 
moved there, and owned the only Bible in 
the place* There were not a dozen famihes 
in it. By breakfast-time the next morning 
we had suppUed him with a neat Sunday- 
school library, which he used to great advan- 
tage. 

We were' told we must ride thirty-five miles 
the next day, over mountain paths, to reach 
a place of lodging — that there was one house 
at thirty miles, but by all means to avoid 
that house. The reasons I cannot give ; nor 
an account of the dinner we tried to eat that 
day. 

As the weather was excessively hot, we left 
G by six in the morning. We soon over- 
took a young man who was going some miles 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 91 

our way, and agreed to be our guide as far 
as we went together. We found him totally 
ignorant of sin, or a future state. He did 
not know whether he had ever seen a Bible 
or not. Though he had heard men preach, 
and seen them with a book in their hand, he 
could not tell what book it was. He told us 
his father was a county surveyor, and, he 
thought, a member of the church. I gave 
him a Testament and some tracts, which he 
looked at with amazement. 

About ten o'clock we came to a number of 
men at work cutting timber out of the road, 
that had been blown down by a storm. On 
inquiry, we found eleven families represented, 
only one of which had a Bible. One or two 
others had lost their Bibles by having their 
cabins burnt. We supphed all with books, 
and left one or two reading for all the rest. 

The want of dinner and the excessive heat 
of the sun brought on me sick headache, 
and by four or five o'clock I could scarcely 
sit on my horse. I told my companions it 
would be impossible for me to reach the 
house we were directed to, and let the con- 
sequence be what it would, I should be com- 



92 FIVE YEARS 

pelled either to lie out, or lodge in the vile 
den of which we had been warned. The 
brethren seemed much alarmed, but said 
they would not leave me. Several times I 
had to alight, to prevent falling from my 
horse. Being thus detained, we only reached 
this dreaded place about sunset. 

There was a very large grazing farm, and 
a large double log-cabin about the centre, 
with every appearance of plenty. As we drew 
near the house we saw quite a number of men 
at work haying in a large meadow. Every 
one seemed to be drunk. Such swearing and 
hallooing I had never heard. Our prospects 
looked gloomy. 

We rode up to the door, and found the 
landlord under the same influence as those 
in the field. "When we asked for lodging he 
seemed glad to have customers, and soon 
had our horses cared for. 

In a little time all the drunken rabble on 
the place were gathered to the house, but 
such a set of men I have never seen before 
or since. Supper was soon ready, and all 
invited in. The food was very rough, but 
abundant. I was too sick to partake of it. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 93 

After supper I told tlie landlord that I was 
very sick, and must go to bed; but as we 
were all religious men, and accustomed to 
pray in our families niglit and morning, if lie 
was willing, we would have prayers. The 
very announcement produced silence in a 
moment, as if some strange thing was about 
to happen. I requested him to bring all into 
the house that would come, and in a few min- 
utes the house was well filled. I called on 
one of the brethren to read and pray; and 
soon after I was in bed, unconscious of all 
around me till morning, when I awoke as well 
as usual. 

As soon as we were dressed I called on the 
old man to get our horses. " Oh no, you 
must stay for breakfast, and pray again," 
said he. "Well," said I, "if you will bring 
all in to prayers now, we will attend to wor- 
ship with pleasure." In a little time the whole 
household was present. I read a portion of 
Scripture, and made the most earnest exhor- 
tation I could possibly do, and prayed. A 
more solemn audience I never addressed. 

As soon as breakfast was over, our horses 
were ready, when I asked the old man for 



94 FIVE YEAES 

our bill. ''Not one cent, sir/' said lie; "you 
have prayed plenty to pay for every thing you 
got. Every time you come this way stop and 
get all you want, and pray, and it sha'n't cost 
you a cent." We supplied all present with, a 
book or tract, and left well pleased on the 
whole with our visit. 

During the day we called at all the cabins 
on our way. At one I found a man who told 
me he was seventy years old, had seldom 
heard a sermon, but that he had felt much 
concern about where he would be in the next 
loorld, if there teas one. He said he never 
had a Bible, but would like to get one very 
much. I gave him a Testament and tracts. 
He seemed very thankful, and listened with 
great attention to all I had time to say. 

At another house the woman told me they 
had a Bible, and plenty of rehgious books. 
I asked to see what kind of books they were. 
When she presented the stock, it consisted of 
an old copy of the history of George Wash- 
ington. She believed it to be a Bible, as no 
one about the house knew a letter. 

The same day we met a very aged man 
riding on a poor little pony, with a small 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 95 

bag of meal under liirQ. I handed him some 
tracts, for which he was very thankful, when 
the following dialogue occurred. 

" Have you any preaching in this moun- 
tain country?" "Sometimes we have." "Are 
you a professor of rehgion ?" " Yes, I have 
been a member of the church forty years." 
"How are you supplied with rehgious books?" 
"Well, we have 71 1 got none but two or three 
spelling-books that I sent for many years ago 
to teach my children how to read." " Have 
you no Bible in your house ?" " No, I never 
had one. I have been trying to get a Testa- 
ment for some time at the store ; but it costs 
seventy-five cents, and I am not able to raise 
the money." This was the regular price of a 
small Testament in that region at that time, 
and seldom to be got even at that price. 

Said I, " Is it not hard to live the Hfe of a 
Christian without the Bible ?" 

"Yes," said he, "but I can't help it; for 
even if I was able to buy one, it could not be 

got nearer than C -, which is forty miles 

distant. I never expect to be rich enough to 
buy a whole Bible." 

My soul was stirred within me, and I drew 



96 FIVE YEARS 

out my pocket Bible, a fine cdpy wliicli I had 
received as a present, and gave it to liim. 
He looked for a moment at me with sur- 
prise, when the tears gushed from hie eyes, 
and he exclaimed, " I am now rich and hap- 
py." This man was seventy-five years old, 
and trembling on the brink of the grave. 
This is a true picture of many cases found 
by colporteurs. I never felt so well paid or 
so happy as when I gave that man my only 
Bible. 

During this whole tour of five weeks' travel, 
many a scene similar to those described oc- 
curred; while, on the other hand, I visited 
villages and towns where I found fine 
churches and able ministers, with highly cul- 
tivated pious congregations. In this tour I 
raised over $500 in donations, and employed 
three excellent colporteurs, one of whom la- 
bored nine years. I met the most cordial 
cooperation from Christians and philanthro- 
pists everywhere I went. AH said, " This is 
just what we need in this sparsely populated 
mountain country." 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 97 



CHAPTER XI. 

"While on this tour I visited the town of 

L , near the* centre of Western Virginia, 

and made arrangements to remove there in a 
few weeks. There are few towns of the size 
which I have ever visited where I have met 
with a more noble people. There was wealth, 
intelligence, and the highest degree of refine- 
ment. This town became the centre of my 
operations for three years. 

The distance we had to go in moving there 
was about one hundred and fifty miles, up 
and down mountains most of the way, with 
scarce any thing like a road in many places : 
a family of five, two of them children, in a 
one-horse carriage, with the necessary equi- 
page for such a journey. 

On the afternoon of the third day we began 
to ascend the Cheat mountain, which required 
nine miles travelling to reach its summit, and 
eight miles down the other side to its base, 
with only one house all the way, and that on 
the top of the mountain, called at that time 



98 FIVE YEARS 

" the mountain house of entertainment." It 
was a large rude log-house, without comfort. 
By the time we reached the top of it I found 
my horse very much fatigued, and the sun 
about setting. We concluded we could not de- 
scend the mountain that night with safety, as 
there was no moon, and the whole way was 
through a dense pine forest. 

When we came to this house on the very 
top of the mountain, we found a number of 
covered wagons that belonged to families 
moving westward, and a crowd of people 
of all colors about the house. I asked for 
lodging. "Yes," said the landlord,'' "lodg- 
ing plenty !" My family went into the house, 
and I went to see my horse taken care of. 
On my return I found them without any place 
to sit down. After looking through the house, 
and finding but two or three apartments, and 
such a crowd of people, I asked the landlord 
how he would lodge us all. " Oh," said he, 
" you can lie down a few at a time, and soon 
as you get asleep I can stand you up against 
the wall." 

Though it was in September, and very 
warm in the valleys, yet it was cold on the 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 99 

top of this mountain, and we were all sHver- 
ing. I asked the landlord, who by this time 
was playing the violin for our entertainment, 
to make us a little fire. But there was nei- 
ther wood nor supper. The females were 
stowed away in one room for the night, and 
the rest lay on the floor or sat by turns till 
the morning came. 

As we had no toilet to make in the morn- 
ing, we were on the way down the mountain 
at an early hour. The first house we reached 
was a log-house, where they kept entertain- 
ment. All was neat and clean. "We called 
for breakfast ; and while it was preparing, we 
had our morning deyotions, which had been 
noticed by the landlady. "When we came to 
our excellent breakfast, she asked me to chris- 
ten her children, of which she had quite a 
number. I told her I was not a preacher, 
and had no authority to administer ordi- 
nances. She insisted most earnestly that I 
must do it ; that no one had ever prayed there 
before, and she did not see any reason why 
any praying man could not christen children ; 
that they had been Uving there for years, and 
never heard a sermon or seen a preacher as 



100 FIVE YEAES 

they knew of; and if I would only do it, they 
would not charge me one cent for breakfast. 
After preaching them the best sermon I could, 
and giving a good supply of little books, we 
went on our way. In two more days we 

reached L , our place of destination, in 

safety, and in a few hours had a house rented 
and were hving in it. 

¥or three years I travelled almost con- 
stantly; sometimes in a buggy, but mostly 
on horseback, making from six to eight thou- 
sand miles each year, distributing tracts and 
books in cabins and mansions, collecting 
money, and employing men, till I had the co- 
operation of over fifty colporteurs. The many 
interesting facts and incidents which occurred 
during these years would fill a large volume. 
A very few of them I shall attempt to relate. 

A Mr. W , whom we had employed for 

some years, a man of ihuch more than ordi- 
nary piety and quahfications for the work, 
while visiting in the mountains, came to a 
poor cabin occupied by a man, his wife, and 
an only son^ They were very poor. The 
father made his Uving by. grubbing, and took 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. IjDl 

the boy witli him to pick the brush, he being 
at this time about sixteen years old. They 
carried home their wages on their backs, 
mostly in some kind of food. The mother 
made what she earned by her spinning- 
wheel; and while at that, had taught her 
son to read the Testament, though she was 

not rehgious. Mr. W- , after talking and 

praying with them, gave this boy a copy of 
Baxter's Call, which was the means of his 
conversion. Before he could join the church, 
the neighbors aided in getting him a suit of 
clothes. 

He immediately set about to improve him- 
self in every possible way. There was no 
school near ; and if there had been, he had 
no means to go. His first efforts in learning 
to write were, by copying the letters out of a 
book with his finger in the snow. He bor- 
rowed and read all the books he could get, 
and attended a little church where there was 
preaching once each month. 

About two years afterwards I received a 
letter by some private way from this same. 

boy, D. W. S . On opening it, I made 

out its contents with some difficulty. It was 



102 FIVE YEARS 

an application to become a colporteur. In 
the letter lie referred me to the Eev. Mr. 

B , wlio lived in town. I went to him, 

showed him the letter, and asked him if he 
knew the writer. He laughed: "Yes, very 

well ; I received him into the church. D 

is a good boy, but he is without education, 
and knows nothing of the world ; he has never 
been ten miles from home in his life." 

I wrote the young man a kind letter, say- 
ing I hoped he would make a colporteur some 
day, and advised him to go to school a while. 

The next thing I heard from him was a rap 
at my door. "When I opened the door, an 
awkward-looking youth near six feet high 
stood before me, with the same suit of clothes 
on him he had got over two years before. 
The pants were several inches too short, and 
the coat-sleeves as deficient ; indeed, the coat 
was Httle more than a big patch on his back. 
Said he, " I am the fellow that wrote you a 
letter about wanting to col^port^ and I have 
come to see about it." I invited him into the 
house. He was all in a tremor of excitement. 
When I opened the parlor door he looked in 
with amazement, and in walking to a seat 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 103 

avoided stepping on the white spots in the 
carpet, which was the first one he ever saw. 
He was so embarrassed he could scarcely 
speak. 

After talking a little while about crops, etc., 
he became composed. He then told me his 
desires to do good, and all about his conver- 
sion, which was entirely satisfactory. As it 
was late in the evening, I invited him to stay 
for the night ; and by the time we got his 
poor old pony of a horse, not worth five dol- 
lars, put away, tea was ready. When he sat 
doT\Ti he looked confused. I had much con- 
versation with him that evening. At length 
I invited him up stairs to bed. On the way 
up he held by the railing to avoid treading 
on the narrow carpet in the centre. 

In the morning he was up whistling psalm 
tunes bright and early. As soon as I was 
dressed I called him and told him I had re- 
flected over the matter very carefully, and 
had come to the conclusion that his want of 
education and knowledge of the world would 
not justify me in employing him. 

I saw his countenance change in a moment 
and the tears start in his eyes. " Oh," said 



104 FIVE YEAES 

he, " I do want you to give me work, for I 
do feel that all I want to live for is to work for 
Christ:' 

I cannot describe my feelings as lie uttered 
these words. Here was a depth of devotion 
beyond any thing I had met. After some 
minutes' silence I said to him, " There is a 
region of country on the head-waters of the 
Elk river where there never has been any 
preaching; if you will go there a month with- 
out any commission, I will see you are paid." 

His countenance was changed in a moment, 
and lit up with joy. In less than two hours 
I had a pair of colporteur's saddle-bags filled 
with books and tracts, and he was on his 
journey to that destitute region, some forty 
miles distant. Soon after, some stock raisers 
who had been in that region buying cattle, 
told me they heard that the Tract Society 
had a great man out there; that the people 
were wonderfully pleased with him; that he 
v/as giving them books, and teaching them to 
read them. 

At the end of the month he returned, all 
his stock had passed into the hands of the 
people, and he gave me a glowing account of 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 105 

the people's wants and his success. He said 
it would take another month to get over that 
region, and he wanted to go back. After 
aiding hini to dispense with his boy clothes, I 
started him with another load of books, cau- 
tioning him to avoid showing off his new suit 
as much as possible. 

Another month's work was done with great 
success, when he returned almost a new boy 
in his whole appearance. He had gained 
confidence by being constantly among people 
that did not know as much as he did. 

I then had him commissioned for P 

county, a very mountainous region, and very 
destitute of the means of moral improvement. 
In a few months he had visited every family 
in the county. In many families the bare 
mention of his name will start tears in the 
eyes of the people, and the tracts that he dis- 
tributed have been sewed together and cov- 
ered with deerskin as remembrances of the 
man that left them. 

Often through the day when he would 
come in sight of a cabin, he would ahght 
from his horse and kneel in the woods and 
plead with God for success in his visit. 



106 FIVE YEARS 

He next visited tlie counties of M and 

E , two large counties, mth remarkable 

success. By this time lie became a fine-look- 
ing young man, and by his constant applica- 
tion to reading the books as he rode along, 
he had become an intelligent, spiritual Chris- 
tian. 

We then sent him to the large county of 

P , where there was in portions of it a 

high degree of intelligence and refinement. 

In a few months he was hcensed to preach 
the gospel. He married a lady of high moral 

worth, and settled in the county of H 

over four weak churches. In two and a half 
years he received over two hundred persons 
into the church on profession of their faith; 
then took typhoid fever, with which he soon 
died in the triumphs of a living faith. 

Since his death I have met with five young 
men, who are now ministers of the gospel, 
who had been led to Christ by his labors, all 
of whom speak of him as an extraordinary 
man in point of piety and usefulness. 

Here was a boy that in all probability 
would have" Uved and died in ignorance and 
sin if he had not been found by a colporteur. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 107 

He has often put his hand on my shoulder, 
and said with tears in his eyes, "Brother 

C , if it had not been for the Tract Society, 

I should have been a poor grubber to-day, on 
the way to death and ruin." 

The great secret of his success was his un- 
tiring zeal and industry. He read and stud- 
ied on his saddle; the shades of the forest 
were his closet in the summer, and the cleft 
of some mountain rock in the winter. His 
congregations were mostly ignorant families, 
and his rostrum a three-legged stool in the 
corner. All his talents were put to use in 
the Lord's work, and no doubt he has his 
reward. Reader, go thou and do likemse, 
and receive a Hke gracious reward. 

On a Saturday evening while on my way 
to meet a Sabbath appointment, while de- 
scending a mountain, I met a man on his 
way home from mill, and offered him some 
tracts. " Oh," said he, " they are of no use 
to me, for I can't read, and I have no one 
about me that can." I asked him if he had 
a family. " Yes, I have a wife and seven 
children." "It is a great sin," said I, "for 
you to raise a family in such ignorance." 



108 FIVE YEABS 

"Oil/' said he, '^ there is so much harm in 
books, they are better mthout them." I 
handed him two or three tracts, and told him 
to get some one to read them to him. One of 
them was, Fifty Reasons for Attending Pub- 
lic "Worship. He took them, and when he got 
home showed them to his wife. " Oh," said 
she, " we will be ruined now. I '11 bet that is 
a warrant that Middleton has got the sheriff 
to serve on you, and we will lose our land." 
They spent a sleepless night, and early next 
morning they went to the nearest neighbor 
and told him they had got into sad trouble 
about their land; that Middleton had served 
a warrant on them, and here it was. 

The tracts were presented to a man who 
was a class-leader in the Methodist church, 
and was my informer near a year after this 
occurrence. He took the first one, "Fifty 
Eeasons for Attending Pubhc "Worship." 
" Well," said he, " this is a warrant, but not 
sent by Middleton, but from the court of heav- 
en. God has sent you this, as you never go 
to church; and now you see how you have 
exposed, your ignorance by not being able to 
read, not knowing the difference between a 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 109 

sheriff's writ and a religious tract ; and I do 
hope you will now attend churcli, and have 
your children taught to read." "Now," said 
my informer, " this man and his wife are both 
members of the church, and they are sending 
their children to school as the result of the 
influence of those tracts." 

On one occasion I left home by a stage- 
coach before dayhght on a long journey. 
We stopped after ten miles to take other 
passengers. As usual, the way-bill was taken 
into the stage-office to enter their names. A 
man wag in the office who had travelled near 
one hundred miles to see me at L . See- 
ing my name on the way-bill, he asked if that 
was the man that was the tract agent. About 
that time I stepped in to warm myself and 
distribute tracts, when some one acquainted 
with me told him I was the agent. He then 
told me how far he had come to see me, and 
how near he was to miss me, all the time in- 
terlarding his conversation with oaths, to the 
great amazement of all present who knew the 
nature of my work. When he was through, 
I told him I would tell him the nature of the 
work in a few words : that he must get a 



110 FIVE YEARS 

good horse and a large pair of saddle-bags, 
fill them with books, and ride over these rug- 
ged mountains, and Uve on hard fare. With 
an awful oath he said he could stand all that 
with any fellow about the diggins. In ad- 
dition to that, said - 1, you must read the 
Bible, and pray at every house. I never 
Baw a man so utterly confounded, while those 
present were convulsed with laughter. I 
gave him a few tracts, and talked to him 
till he wept Uke a child. Although I never 
heard of the man again, I have hope that the 
conversation was not in vain. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. Ill 



CHAPTEE XII. 

About this time I held a Colporteur Con- 
vention in C , in which a number of col- 
porteurs were present. The meeting was one 
of deep interest. Many facts were brought 
out in relation to the wants of that region, 
and the good resulting from the work, that 
were of the most cheering character. 

During the three days of our meetings, an 
old man was present who was but Uttle known 
to any that were there. When about to close 
the convention, I said that if any one present 
wished to give us a word of advice or ex- 
hortation we should be glad to hear it, when 
this old man rose, trembling with diffidence, 
and said : 

"As soon as I heard of this meeting I made 
up my mind to attend it ; and now I want to 
tell you what this Society has done for me. 

My name is C . Ten years ago I was 

considered the wickedest man in this county. 
I was a profane drunkard. One day while at 
S , about four miles above this place, old 



112 FIVE YEABS 

Mr. E , who was always distributing 

tracts, handed .me one with the word Eternity 
in large letters at the head of it. I was the 
worse for liquor at the time, and on my horse 
to go home, which was about fifteen miles 
distant. On my way I took the tract out of 
my hat to read it. My attention got fixed 
on the word Eternity , and I became alarmed 
about my state as a sinner. By the time I 
got home I was nearly sober. I read and 
reread the tract till I had it committed to 
memory. For near two weeks I had no rest. 
At last my distress became so gTeat that I 
did not want to hve. One day I was tempted 
to go away to the woods and destroy myself. 
While there I thought of praying, for the 
first time, and fell down on my knees and 
cried, ^God be_merciful to me a sinner.' In 
a moment I felt rehef, and went home with 
a joyful heart, and told my family aU about 
the matter. I read the tract to them, and 
began to pray with and for them. In six 
months I had a Httle church built on my land, 
and a missionary there to preach once each 
month, and myself, wife, and six of my chil- 
dren and eight servants were members of it ; 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 113 

and here is five dollars, all the money I have 
in the world, to aid in giving good books to 
others." All present were bathed in tears at 
this recital. 

As soon as he was seated, another man 
arose and said "he supposed all present had 

hear(J of Father B ', who died a few weeks 

ago, and many, no doubt, remember when he 
was a terror in the community. He had re- 
markable bodily powers, and could whip any 
man in all the country round. When the 
county of L was laid off, there was a vio- 
lent contest about. where to build the court- 
house ; and the two parties agreed that B 

and another bully should decide the matter 

by a fist-fight, and B gained the site 

where that court-house now stands. He was 
often brought up at the court for assault and 
battery, and had crippled some men for life. 

Judge S on one occasion, when passing 

sentence on him, said, [ B — — , you have be- 
come too bad a man to live, and if ever you 
come before me again convicted of crime, I 
will make you suffer for it most severely. If 
you would improve the mind God has given 
you, you might be a blessing to the world; 



114 FIVE YEABS 

but now you are a disgrace. Here is a tract, 
' Tlie Fool's Pence ;' take and read it, and 
may God lead you by it to be a better man,' 
That tract was tlie means of his conversion, 
and for the last fifteen years of his Ufe he 
was one of the most successful preachers in 
South-western Virginia." 

Another fact was brought out at this meet- 
ing by the Eev. Mr. W , who labored for 

some time as a colporteur in the county of 

W . He entered a large settlement where 

there never had been any preaching, schools, 
or distribution of books. The Sabbath was 
the special day for frolicking and dissipation. 
In the house where he lodged on Saturday 
night, the family were busy preparing to go 
to a shooting-match the next morning. All 
he could say had no effect on them. After 
praying God to guide him in his duty, he 
determined to go with them. "When they 
came to the place, a large collection of all 
classes were present, with a great number of 
articles to gamble for in different ways. He 
told them, as it was the Lord's day, he would 
unite with them in prayer for God's blessing. 
He prayed earnestly, and then told them that 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 115 

if they woTild give him their attention he 
•would preach to them. They seemed con- 
founded at this remark, and all remained 
silent as death. He announced his text, and 
preached with unusual Uberty. The atten- 
tion was solemn, and they looked at one an- 
other with amazement. He then distributed 
among them his remaining stock of books 
and tracts, and as he was very unwell, went 
home. Soon after the news spread that some 
people in that region were concerned about 
their souls. A preacher visited them, and 
soon had a good congregation gathered, and 
over twenty converts. Sunday froHcking was 
abandoned, and many were led to observe 
the Lord's day. 

The same man stated another fact, which 

occurred in J county. While visiting in 

one of those sparsely populated regions, he 
came to a very large farm. He found the 
family to consist of the father, mother, and 
twelve children, the youngest about eight 
years old. The man was wealthy in land 
and stock, but to his surprise no one knew a 
letter in a book. After talking to them about 
their relations to God and eternity, he asked 



116 FIVE YJIARS 

the father why he did not have his children 
taught to read. The old objection was raised 
at once, that they learned enough of had with- 
out books ; that he had got along very well 
without reading, and so could his children. 

He then began to read to them, showed 
them the pictures in the Alphabet of Animals, 
and read them some account of them. Sev- 
eral of the children said, " Oh, I wish I could 
read." He then gave them one or two books 
and some tracts. A few months after he was 

• coming back the same way, and called to pay 
another visit. " "Well," said the old man, *' you 
have give me a purty lot of trouble by leaving . 
them boohs here, I had no peace till I got a 
man to come and lam tliem to read them." 
So sure ^enough the teacher was there, and 

^'now they bought more books freely. 

In travelling through a wild mountain re- 
gion, where I was a total stranger, I came to 
a small village of about a dozen houses, with 
a little store and tavern. Before I reached 
it, I heard men hallooing in the most boister- 
ous manner. When I drove up weary to the 
public-house, I was surrounded with such a 
set of savage-looking men as I never had 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 117 

seen before, and all intoxicated. Every man 
had on a hunting-shirt, with a belt round him, 
to which hung a long butcher-knife. I felt 
afraid of the men, I must confess, and would 
have been glad to have been elsewhere, espe- 
cially as my buggy and trunk seemed to at- 
tract rather too much attention. 

After I had got food for myself and horse, 
and laid round some tracts as quietly as pos- 
sible, I started, hoping to reach a point near 
twenty miles distant that hight. Some part 
of the way I was told the road was very 
good, but mostly rough and mountainous. 

As soon as I was out of sight, I drove rap- 
idly, and made the first five miles in an hour, 
when I began to breathe easier. 

But all at once I heard the most unearthly 
yelling behind me that had ever greeted my 
ears. My horse was frightened, and tried to 
run off. In a few moments I heard the clat- 
ter of horses' feet, and concluded all was over 
vdth me. In a moment I was surrounded 
with some eight or ten of the most desperate 
looking men, and told to stop ; that they 
wanted to know what I was loaded with. I 
told them I was loaded with good religious 



118 FIVE YEAKS 

books, whicli I was distributing among peo- 
ple that had none I was then ordered to 
give them all up to them, and they would 
scatter them on the other side of the moun- 
tain, for there were no books oyer there. I 
told them I knew they were too generous to 
take all that I had. 

I then told them to listen to me, and I 
would tell them what the books taught. So 
I began and preached them the most earnest 
sermon that I ever preached. One of them 
said, "Give me your hand, sir, for I never 
had a preacher by the hand in my life." I 
held his hand firmly, and preached on, al- 
though the muzzle of his gun was frequently 
in very dangerous proximity to my person. 

It was evident they began to feel uneasy 
under my wayside sermon, and for fear they 
would leave me without tracts, I began the 
distribution, and gave each one a number of 
the most suitable I could find. They invited 
me to come over the mountains and preach, 
and I would get plenty to come and hear me. 
Some of those tracts were found more than a 
year after by one of our colporteurs, carefully 
preserved and highly prized. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 119 



OHAPTEE XIII. 

Anothek case that seemed more threaten- 
ing than the last mentioned, occurred soon 

after in the county of G . I was on my 

way to meet a Sabbath appointment. About 
two o'clock I came to a river which was 
much swollen by the late rains. The man 
who kept the ferry-boat lived on the opposite 
side of the river, where some four or five men 
were pitching quoits and making a great 
noise. I called a number of times before 
they even condescended to answer me ; and 
when they did answer, it was with curses, 
teUing me they would come when they were 
ready. I had then sixteen miles to go to 

B , the place where I expected to lodge. 

They kept me waiting two hours before they 
came mth the boat, consequently it was late 
when I got over. They were drunk and very 
profane, charged me four prices, and cursed 
me for troubhng them. I gave them some 
tracts, and the best advice I could. 

Soon after I met two women: one seemed 



120 FIVE YEABS 

to be about thirty, and tlie other sixty years 
old. I offered them some tracts, which they 
at first declined, for fear I might be the sher- 
iff. Neither knew a letter, or could tell who 
w^as the Saviour of sinners. 

Soon after I passed them a terrible rain 
came on, and the roads w^ere so deep my 
horse conld scarcely draw my buggy. I saw 
night would soon overtake mp, and the pros- 
pect of lodging looked unfavorable. I stop- 
ped at a cabin by the roadside to inquire the 
way, aiiid leave some tracts. A man came out 
who looked as if he was ready for any crime, 
and came right up to my buggy, and began 
to look in with a scrutinizing eye. He either 
could not or would not give me any satisfac- 
tion about the road. After an earnest exhor- 
tation about his soul, I gave him Baxter's 
Call. All the conduct of the man w^as of a 
very suspicious character. 

It was now late, and raining hard, alid in a 
little time would be very dark. I drove on 
as fast as possible,' until it began to get quite 
dark, when I met a man on the road walking ; 
whether he was a white man or not, I could 
not tell. I stopped him to inquire if there 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 121 

was any place near where I could lodge. He 
immediately began to examine the inside of 
my buggy as fully as the darkness would per- 
mit. He told me there was a man on the 
other bank of the creek, about half a mile 
ahead of me, who kept lodgers, and that it 
was a good place to stop. I handed him 
a book and thanked him, and drove on, he 
following a short distance, asking me ques- 
tions which were not calculated to allay my 
anxiety. 

I soon reached the creek, w^hich seemed to 
be very high and rapid, and it was so dark I 
could see no object on the other side of it. 
The road entered by a narrow ravine, and 
there was no way to back out. I Hfted my 
heart to God for protection, and drove in. 
In a moment the water was up in my buggy, 
but thanks to God, 1 got through safely, and 
in a few moments my horse was standing by 
the door of a miserable cabin. 

I called, and a man came out with a torch 
of pine-knots in his hand. He was both dirty 
and ragged. I asked him w^here the man 
lived that kept lodgers. " Oh," said he, " I 
am the man that keeps tavern here." My 



122 FIVE YEAES 

prospects were bad, but I could get no fur- 
tlier. I asked liim to put up my tired horse 
and feed him. He had no stable but a rail- 
pen, no feed but some sheaves of green 
wheat. He took me to another cabin about 
fifty yards distant, that was as dark as a dun- 
geon, except so far as his torch gave us hght. 
Although it was warm, I requested him to 
make me a fire, which he did with reluctance. 

After some time I was invited to the first 
cabin to supper. The man and his wife and 
children, as well as the supper, were all dirty 
in the extreme. I attempted to eat, but in 
vain. As soon as the man finished his meal, 
we returned to the other cabin, where I con- 
versed with him. He was a total stranger to 
the simplest truths of the Bible. 

I asked him if he knew any thing of the 
celebrated Lucas family of that county. " Oh 
yes," said he, " they live all round here. Did 
you not meet a man as you came along to- 
night about the top of the hill over the creek?" 
I said yes. " Well, that was one of them, and 
I wonder they let you pass so late in the 
evening. That one, and the one that lived in 
the house you last passed were the two impli- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 123 

cated in killing the man for wMch. one of their 
uncles was hung at Giles court-house, and if 
I had given in my testimony, they would 
have been hung too; and I am afraid they 
will kill me, because I know all about it." 

By this time I was considerably alarmed. 
The conclusion I came to was that they were 
all liaked together, and that I was in the 
slaughter-house. 

I then iaquired all about old Randal Lucas, 
who was the father of two that had been 
hung, and some others that were in prison, 
and was the grandfather of the two he had 
just been telling me about. He gave me a 
full history of the old man, much of which 
cannot be told. " But," said he, " such a man 
you never saw. He is ninety years old. "When 
he puts on a suit of clothes, he never takes it 
off till it is worn out. In the winter he lies 
in the ashes, and in the summer he lies down 
in the mire like a hog." This is confirmed 
in Howe's History of Virginia, which relates 
how he sat under the gallows eating ginger- 
bread while his sons were hung. I refer the 
reader to that history for an account of this 
wonderful man and his family. 



124 FIVE YEARS 

The manner in whicli lie told the whole 
story was any thing but pleasant to me. He 
began to get sleepy, and told me he would 
hold the pine-light while I got into bed up on 
the loft, as he called it. The only way to get 
up was by a ladder made of a pole spKt 
in two, with rounds put into it. I chmbed 
up, and he followed me with the torch. As 
soon as I got to the bed over the loose boards 
that covered the floor, and found an old split- 
bottom chair, which I expected to use in self- 
defence before morning, I told him to with- 
draw. 

I lay down without undressing, after com- 
mitting my soul, family, and all my interests 
to God, without much hope of seeing the 
light of another day. No one occupied the 
house but myself as a bedroom. I- kept 
watch till morning, and when any impleasant 
soimd was heard, I made noise enough to let 
any one approaching know that I was awake. 

As soon as it was light I was up to see to 
iny poor horse, which was standing in mud 
and water six inches deep, without food. 
After getting him some more green wheat in 
the sheaf, and a little com bread for myself, 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 125 

and talking and praying with the family, I 
left them. I cannot say whether there was 
any intention to rob me or take my life. I 
hope there was not. 

"When I was about two miles on my way, 
and was rising a mountain where the road 
was scarcely six inches wider than my buggy, 
a man met me, riding a poor old horse A\dth- 
out ^ saddle, all in rags and dirt, with noth- 
ing on him but remnants of a torn shirt and 
pants, with a rope tied round his waist, and 
a bottle of whiskey in his bosom. Such a 
looking piece of humanity I had never seen 
before. In a moment I concluded this is 
certainly old Eandal Lucas. I saw he could 
not pass me on that narrow road, and I de- 
termined to have a full talk with him. "When 
we met he tried to keep the upper side of the 
road, and get between my horse and the steep 
bank. 

" Good morning, sir," said I. " Good morn- 
ing," said he, in a very unnatural tone of 
voice. " Do n't you want some good books 
to read this morning?" "No, I don't want 
any; I can't read." " Do you go to church?" 
"No, I don't care about church." "Well, 



126 FIVE YEAES 

sir," said I, " you are an old man and must 
soon go to tlie other world." "Yes, I am 
ninety years old." "Is it possible," said I, 
"you are so old?" "Yes, I can prove it." 
*' You would find but few witnesses to prove 
that by." "Well, I can swear it then." 
"Well, sir," said I, "what do you think wiU 
become of you when you die ?" " O well, I 
does'nt care any thing about that." "•Can 
you tell me who is the Saviour of sinners?" 
"I don't know any thing of tliem things." 
"Well, sir, who made you?" "Why, I sup- 
pose it was God Almighty." " What is your 
name, sir?" " Eandal Lucas." "WeU," said 
I, "I thought so," straightening myself with 
a determined look. " Well, sir, you say you 
don't go to church, and I must tell you in 
the name of my Master, that if you do n't re- 
pent you will soon be in hell. I have read 
and heard of you, sir, for years, and you 
stand on the brink of eternal burnings, and 
your soul stained with every crime that a 
man could commit." He began to look fright- 
ened, and tried to pass me; but I kept my 
position, and for some minutes laid down the 
terrors of the law in the strongest language 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 127 

I could use, and then gave him some Kttle 
books and tracts. He trembled like an aspen 
leaf. 

A few weeks afterwards lie took up the 
idea that he was soon to die, got a coffin 
made, tried it to see if it would fit, paid for 
it, and set it up in his cabin — sent for a 
preacher, told him he was going to die and 
did not know what would become of him, 
and asked him to pray for him ; offered him 
fifty cents, and said, "Pray on till my money 
is done." The money was of course refused. 
In a few days the poor wretch died as he 
had lived, leaving a host of children the de- 
scendants of unnatural and brutal connec- 
tion. 



128 FIVE YEARS 



CHAPTER XIV. 



TExIYELLING in a mountainous region at 
nightfall of a tempestuous day, and haying 
lost my road, I was directed for a lodging 

to "Squire D 's, who keeps the ferry." 

After supper, I had a pleasant talk with the 

father of Squire D , on whose head the 

snows of eighty winters had fallen, and soon 
the family were gathered Tound us, engaged 
in delightful converse. I inquired as to the 
high-handed wickedness of a neighborhood 
not far off, where I had heard that meet- 
ings were frequently held in mockery of re- 
ligious worship : 

"Yes, yes," said the squire, with just 
enough of the Welsh accent to betray his 
origin, " and our neighborhood here was just 
as bad ten years ago ; we were all alike : no 
church, no preacher, no Sunday-school, no 
day-school. One evening a minister and a 
young lady stopped at my house for the 
night ; I thought them very inquisitive peo-^ 
pie. They asked if we had any preaching. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 129 

* No.' Any schools ? 'No; we have had sev- 
eral teachers, but no one will stay more than 
a quarter with us.' The young lady said she 
would come and take a school among us, if 
we would employ her. After some further 
conversation, I told her I would see what 
could be done, and write her the result. Next 
morning they left for the minister's home at 
M , some fifty miles distant. 

" In a short time I had a school made up 
and board engaged for the new teacher, and 
wrote her to that effect. She came and com- 
menced her school at the time appointed. 
But soon there was complaint that the new 
teacher read the Bible and prayed in Tier school. 
And her troubles did not cease here. The 
man at whose house she boarded insisted that 
she should leave, because she prayed, sung 
hymns, and would keep talking about relig- 
ion all the time. Miss H then set out to 

look up another home for herself; but she 
met the same reply from all: 'We cannot re- 
ceive you unless you leave off praying and 
singing.' 

"When she appUed to me, I objected on 
the same grounds. Finally, I told her if she 



130 FIVE YEARS 

would come on my own terms, I would take 
her into my family. She inquired what those 
terms were. ^"Why/ said I, 'you shaU have 
such a room to yourself ; there you are to 
stay from the time you return from school 
until you start to go back, only when you 
come to your meals : you must not sing 
hymns ; you may pray as much as you please, 
but mind you do n't let us hear you at it ; and 
remember^ the first time you infringe this con- 
tract, you leave the premises.' To all this 
she agreed, with as much meekness as if my 
terms had been reasonable and right. That 
evening she took up her abode under my 
roof; and little did I think what ^ blessing 
God was sending me in that frail, delicate 
girl. 

"The children all loved the new teacher 
very much. So one day she told them to ask 
their parents' permission, and if they were 
agreed, she would teach them on Sunday too. 
This proposal pleased us aU. If she taught 
on Sunday, that was so much clear gain to 
us. 

" I soon observed that my children took to 
staying in the teacher's room much of their 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 131 

time. At lengtli, one Sunday morning, they 
came down with some tracts; I looked over 
them, and found they were on the subject of 
religion. Ah, said I, my lady, I 've caught 
you now. I called her down, told her she 
had violated her contract, and must be off. 
The poor girl began to weep ; I felt ashamed. 
'Dear sir,' said she, 'will you read those 
tracts ? If you do, and still continue in your 
present mind, I will leave your house im- 
mediately.' 

" Here was a pretty fix ; the children were 
all crying, and begging me not to send Miss 

H away ; and the books. Oh, they could 

not part with the books. I was mightily 
perplexed ; at last I gave in. Said I, ' Miss 

H , you may go back to your room ; I will 

consider the matter.' I shall never forget the 
smile that passed over her face as she thanked 
me and went back to her room. Thanked 
me, indeed ! Well, I set to work, read one 
of the tracts, felt self-condemned; read it 
again, felt dreadfully troubled. Then I read 
them all, and felt that I was a great sinner. 

I said nothing more to Miss H about 

leaving my house. Each day my convictions 



132 FIVE YEARS 

became deeper. At last, I could bear it no 
longer. Thonglit I, this wont do ; I must 

talk with Miss H . So I invited her to 

come and sit with us in the family. She 
cheerfully comphed. I asked her a great 
many questions about the doctrines of the 
Bible, not meaning to let her know any thing 
about my concern. But all would not do ; 
my distress continued, or rather my agony, 
for I thought I was the greatest sinner on 
earth. 

"At last, I sent one evening for Miss H 

to come down, and I told her my troubles ; 
for my proud heart was well-nigh broken. 

Said I, Miss H , I feel so and so ever 

since I read those tracts of yours ; and I re- 
lated all that was passing in my mind ; and, 
said I, do you think there is any mercy or 
hope for such a poor miserable sinner? The 
tears began to run down her cheeks ; then 
she laughed; then she caught me by both 
hands, and looking up into my face, she said, 
^ Oh, my dear friend, I am so glad. ^ Why,' 
said I, ^ are you glad because I am in trouble?' 
^ Oh, my dear sir,' says she, 'this is the Spirit 
of God operating on your heart.' All at once 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 133 

a great light seemed to shine into my mind. 
All that I had been learning for so many 
weeks seemed now just as plaia as A B C. 

Said I, ^ Come, Miss H , kneel down then 

and pray for me;' and she did pray for me, 
and I do bless God for his wonderful mercy 
to such a poor hardened sinner. I believe 
that God did change my heart just while that 
very prayer was going up. All at once it just 
came : I loved my Bible and I loved to pray, 
and I could not bear the company that I used 
to take so much dehght in. 

" On the next Sabbath, Miss H asked 

me to go along with her and the children to 
the school — ^which was, and had been a Sun- 
day-school, though we never suspected it ; 
and here came a trial. If I go, they will say 
I am gettiQg religious ; if I stay, it will be a 
sin, for I know I ought to go ; and then it 
will grieve Miss H . These last consid- 
erations were the strongest ; so I went. The 
room was crowded with children, all waiting 
for their teacher ; I thought they all looked 

happy. After a httle while. Miss H took 

the Bible, and coming to me, she said, ' Mr. 
D , will you read and pray with us this 



134 FIVE YEAKS 

morning?' I was startled; my very heart 
trembled. Said I, ' Oh. no; not now.' Then 
she read a chapter and prayed herself. Oh, 
how I felt, to think that I was ashamed to 
pray before those children ! Ah, thought I, 
this will never do ; I will come here and pray 
next Sunday. That night I read and prayed . 
with my family ; and the next Sabbath I 
opened the school with prayer. 

"The news spread soon all through the 

settlement. D has got rehgion and is 

praying in the Sunday-school ! strange news 
this ! Yery soon the people began to drop 

into our Sunday-school. Then Miss H 

said to me, ' You had better read us a ser- 
mon at the Sunday-school, after the other 
exercises are over.' She selected the ser- 
mons, and I read them. Our meetings grew 
very solemn. Presently we sent word to a 

good man at B to send us a minister ; he 

did so. The minister came and preached for 
us. The httle school-house could not con- 
tain one haK of the people who crowded to 
hear him. "We held our meetings in the open 
air, under the trees. 

"Ah, that was a wonderful time; the cry 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 135 

of the anxious sinner went up from every 
house. The Spirit of God was moving might- 
ily upon the hearts of the people, and many 
were born into the kingdom of Christ. All 
this brought a gTeat change in our settlement. 
Instead of the dance, and the gaming-table, 
and the foohsh song, we had meetings for 
prayer and praise ; and the tavern and still- 
house were exchanged for the temple of 
God. 

" The Sabbath became a day of holy rest 
among a people who used to spend it in rev- 
elry or idleness. Houses of worship were 
built, where our population flocked every 
Sabbath to hear the preached word from the 
living minister; and in the course of two 
or three years, hundreds professed faith in 
Christ, and joined the church. "We have had 
a flourishing church here ever since. Ah," 
said the good man, in his peculiarly emphatic 
way, " see what God hath wrought for us." 

How often have I reproached myself, when 
I contrasted the heroic conduct of this de- 
voted female with my own man-fearing spirit! 
She has gone to her reward ; her memory will 
be cherished for a few more years in the 



136 FIVE YEARS 

hearts of those to whom her humble efforts 
were of such immense value, and then pass 
away and be forgotten. But her infiuence 
will pass on, an ever-increasing current, down 
the long tracts of time, and throughout the 
endless ages of eternity. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 137 



CHAPTEE XV. 

The latter part of tlie year 1848 was spent 
laboring in South-western Virginia. I visited 
several towns as a colporteur, taking with me 
some applicant for this service, to give him a 
favorable introduction to his labors. 

I reached the beautiful town of A late 

in the evening, an entire stranger, and stopped 
at a hotel, wet, cold, and hungry. About the 
same time the stage arrived with a number of 
passengers, and we all asked for rooms with 
fire in them. While this was preparing I 
stepped into the bar-room, the only place 
where I could find a fire; but it had been 
election day, and such a company of intoxi-^ 
cated men I had never seen in one room. 
Several of them were lying on the floor, una- 
ble to rise ; and the swearing was awful. I 
immediately began the distribution of tracts 
and Uttle paper-covered books; and among 
them I laid down a copy of " Universalism 
not of God." As I passed round, laying them 
down on chairs and tables, as well as hand- 



138 FIVE YEAES 

ing them to the men, I observed a very fine- 
looking man who had come in the stage, fol- 
lowing me, and looking at them. 

As I laid down "Universalism not of God," 
he took it up, and said to me very abruptly 
that the book was a libel on the UniversaHsts. 
" Oh," said I, " I understand the cause of 
your objection to the book. You are one of 
those who beheve that thieves, murderers, 
and liars all go to heaven ; that there is no 
such place as hell." " Yes," said he, " I have 
too good an opinion of God's mercy to beheve 
there is any such place as hell." When he 
made that remark, one of the fellows who was 
lying dmnk on the floor raised his head and 
said, "You are a har;" while another said 
he "wished that was true, but there was no 
such good news." Said I, "Sir, I will hand 
you over to these men, and you and they may 
settle the controversy." He immediately dis- 
appeared from the room. 

During my stay of three weeks in this beau- 
tiful town, I visited every family in it, and 
either sold or gave books. 

One day I stepped into the office of a law- 
yer, who was one of the first men in the state 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 139 

in his profession. I offered him a copy of 
Nelson on Infidehty. Said he, " I conld not 
take time to read a book of that size, except 
on law, for less than five hundred dollars." 
I then offered him Baxter's Call. Said he, 
" That is too big a dose for me too." I then 
presented him the tract, " The Great Alterna- 
tive." " Well," said he, " as you are so anx- 
ious for me to read some of your books, I 
will read that right off." He commenced, 
and I left him. An hour or two after I was' 
passing his door, and he was sitting in a 
thoughtful mood. Said I, "Have you read 
the tract ?" "Yes," said he, " and if I would 
read a few more hke it I think I might be- 
come a Christian." Said I, " Too busy to be 
saved." "Yes," said he, "I fear that is my 
case ; I have not a moment to spare from my 
business." Alas, how many will have to say, 
I was too busy to be saved. 

In the same town there was a man who had 
once been a minister of some prominence in 
an evangelical church, but had left it, and 
embraced the doctrines of Swedenborg, for 
which he was very zealous. I did not wish 
to encounter him; but as I stepped into a 



140 FIVE YEARS 

store one night to scatter tracts, lie was pres- 
ent. . He immediately made an attack on me, 
and said that he could not imagine how any 
wise man conld beheve in the doctrine of the 
Trinity; that it was so absurd that nothing in 
heaven or earth could illustrate it. I saw the 
eyes of all present were turned to me, and felt 
in a tight place. I lifted my heart to God for 
help to vindicate his truth. A candle was 
burning between us. Said I, pointing to the 
candle, "Sir, there is a trinity giving us Ught. 
There is tallow, wick, and fire, three in one." 
He acknowledged he was beat, and took his 
leave, to the amusement of those present, and 
to my great satisfaction. 

After two months' labor in South-western 

Virginia, I returned to my home in L , 

near two hundred miles distant from A , 



and devoted a month to correspondence and 
adjusting accounts with over fifty colporteurs 
I had now employed. 

Though L had been my home for over 

two years, I had never had time to visit all 
the famiUes with our books and tracts. I had 
often determined to do it, but other labors 
had prevented. The number of warm friends 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 141 

and liberal contributors in and around the 
town seemed to lay special claims on me to 
do the work, and I resolved to spend the 
months of January and February laboring in 
the town and vicinity. 

At this time it was remarked by the minis- 
ters and praying people of God, that they had 
not felt such a spiritual dearth there for many 
years. The ball-room was better attended 
than the churches, and the young seemed to 
be rushing into sin with greediness. My own 
soul too was in darkness, and my strength 
nearly prostrated. My devotions, public and 
private, were heartless. I was even tempted 
to leave my work and engage in some secu- 
lar business. 

At last I told a few of the most pious whom 
I knew about the desire I had to visit the 
families, itnd that the state of my own heart 
was such that I was prevented from doing 
it. They urged me forward, and promised 
to pray for me. I set day after day to be- 
gin; but when the day and hour came for 
me to start, my heart would fail, and Satan 
seemed to have some excuse always ready. 
At last I entered into covenant with God to 



142 FIVE YEABS 

begin tlie next day ; but wlien the morning 
came my hard, cowardly heart failed me. I 
tried to pray again and again. I put it off 
till the afternoon, with a hope of getting 
strength. A carpet-bag had been standing 
fall of books and tracts for some days waiting, 
and they seemed to rebuke my cowardice. 

At last I thought that if Moses had not 
stepped into the Red sea, the waters would 
never have receded. The next morning still 
found me at home. As soon as my breakfast 
was over I took the carpet-bag and books to 
a room and earnestly prayed over them, and 
then started. 

The next neighbor to me was a Mr. H . 

His wife and mother-in-law were devoted 
Christians, but he was careless about relig- 
ion, and so was his brother, a young man 
that had his home there. I dealt faithfully 
with them, and prayed with them. Each of 
them bought a book, and I left them in tears. 
Soon after the young man professed religion, 
and the other remained serious as long as I 
knew him. All my fears were now gone. A 
few minutes before I was ashamed to own 
Christ before a kitchen-maid; now I could 



IN THE ALLEGHANIESc 143 

face the world, and the promise was realized, 
"My strength is made perfect in weak- 
ness." 

I next went to Mr. P 's and had a long 

t^lk with his daughter, a Yery intelligent girl 
of twelve summers. In a short time she pro- 
fessed rehgion. 

I next entered the house of Mr. E . 

He and his wife were two of the friends to 
whom I had told my difficulties, and who had 
engaged to pray for me. They had two very 
interesting daughters that moved in the most 
fashionable circles of society. As soon as I 
entered the house they knew my errand. I 
was directed to the parlor, and told by the 
father, " I wUl send the girls in, and wife and 
I will go into our own room and pray while 
you talk." I felt God was there while I tallied 
and prayed. One received Pike's Persua- 
sives to Early Piety, the reading of which 
led her to the Saviour soon after; the other 
got Baxter's Call, and was an inquirer during 
all the time I remained there. 

I cannot find words to express the joy I 
felt in my own soul at the close of this day's 
work. All nature seemed to rejoice with me, 



144 FIVE YEARS 

and I fully realized tlie promise, "He that 
wateretL. shall be watered." 

The next day I visited eleven famihes, 
talked and prayed and sold and gave books 
and tracts in every honse. In almost every 
house some feeHng was manifested, and soon 
after several professed religion. Among them 

was a Mrs. M , who told me it was the 

Anxious Inquirer that led her to Christ. I 
visited half the town in a week, and sold and 
gave away many books and tracts. Quite a 
number of those visited showed much feeHng 
while I talked with them. 

At this time special rehgious services were 
held in one of the churches that had but little 
sympathy at that time with the Tract Society, 
or any thing else that was not imder their 
own^exclusive control; and I was advised to 
stop my "woirk till their meeting closed, for 
fear they might say I was proselyting. I at- 
tended all their meetings, and prayed and 
exhorted when called on. Their meetings 
continued two weeks, during which time 
twenty professed religion, most of whom I 
had previously visited. 

At the close of these meetings, I told the 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 145 

Eev. Dr. McE that now was the time for 

him to have meetings in his church. He said 
he was not able to do any extra work, and 
did not know where he could get any preach- 
er. I proposed to get the Eev. E. N. D , 

who was then laboring as a colporteur of the 
Tract Society some fifty miles distant, to 

which he agreed, and I wrote to Mr. D 

to come on a certain day. During the inter- 
vening time of ten days I visited all the bal- 
ance of the town and held prayer-meetings 
every night. The meetings became more and 
more interesting, and religion became the 
theme of conversation in every circle. 

When Mr. D- came pubhc preaching 

was held every night, and the word was at- 
tended with the power of God. Every. morn- 
ing we had a prayer-meeting, and through 
the day visited the inquirers from house to 
house, and scattered tracts. By the end of 
four days thirty-five were attending the meet- 
ing for inquiry, and at the close of the first 
week thirty-three had professeii hope in 
Christ, most of them the most influential 
people in the town. 

The Eev. Mr. V then came and aided 

FireY 10 



146 FIVE YEARS 

anotlier week, at the close of wliicli forty-two 
were added to the church. Thus did God 
carry on his work with the humble instru- 
ments he had chosen. 

One young lady who had been an inquirer 
for two weeks, told us at last she did not care 
about being converted then, and left the 
meetings. In three weeks she died. Her 
last words were, " I could have been saved, 
but I rejected God's Spirit, and now I am 
lost." , 

Another came sometimes to the inquiry 
meetings, but owing to the fact that she was 
soon to marry an irreligious man, put off her 
day of grace. In a few weeks the day of her 
intended marriage came. She rose in the 
morning in usual health to prepare for the 
ceremony, but before night her costly bridal 
dress was her winding-sheet. 

Four miles from town Mr. W , a col- 
porteur, was at work during the time of this 
meeting in the town, and ten were there 
added to a little church- 

I have been thus particular in stating the 
facts in relation to this work, as it was the 
starting point of one of the most powerful 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. Ul 

revivals that I have ever -witnessed. It ex- 
tended over one hundred miles square of a 
sparsely populated country, in which near 
one thousand souls were converted to God 
within about four months. The fidehty and 
perseverance in the service of Christ of those 
thus brought in, is the best evidence that this 
was truly the work of God's Spirit. ' 

At the close of these cheering labors in L — , 

I went to the town of U to be with Mr. 

H at a sacramental meeting, and take a 

collection for the Tract Society. He is one 
of God's ministers that does his work faith- 
fully. The meetii% began on Friday night. 

Mr. H requested me to occupy the time 

in giving an account of the great work at 

L , which I did. Although but few were 

present, and they mostly pupils in the acad- 
emy he taught, the bare relation of the facts 
of the revival at L made a deep impres- 
sion, and resulted in the conversion of his 
son, who is now a minister. 

The next morning at nine, we had a meet- 
ing for prayer and exhortation, at which there 

was still more interest. At eleven Mr. H 

preached. At night I conducted the service 



148 FIVE YEARS 

by exhortation and prayer. The solemnity 
was still increased. At each meeting we gave 
each one present a suitable tract, with a word 
of earnest counsel. 

At nine, Sabbath morning, I conducted an- 
other prayer-meeting. At eleven, Mr. H 

preached and administered the communion. 
God was" truly there in great power. At 
three we had a meeting for prayer again. At 
night the church was full. I based my re- 
marks on the words, "I will arise and go 
to my father." I saw that every heart was 
moved, and but few cheeks were dry. At the 

close of my remarks, I tuf ned to Mr. H , 

and said to him, "If you will ask them, some 
anxious souls will remain for instruction and 
prayer." The result was, seven inquirers to'ok 
a stand on the Lord's side that night. This 

seemed to rouse the gTeat soul of Mr. H to 

an extraordinary pitch of fervor, and led to the 
appointment of a meeting the next morning. 

On Monday morning we both exhorted, and 
the interest was deep. At three we held an 
inquiry-meeting, and nine attended. At night 
I spoke again ; the meeting was deeply inter- 
esting. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 149 

Tuesday morning the prayer-meeting was 
crowded, and in the afternoon there were 
seventeen inquirers. We had three services 
each day, the one at three only for inquir- 
ers ; and each day there was an increase of 

interest. On Saturday morning Mr. H 

had to go some miles to another preaching- 
place, and I was left alone on Saturday and 
the Sabbath. Sabbath, at three, there were 
twenty-seven inquirers, and ten were indulg- 
ing a hope in Christ. During the next week 
forty-two professed faith in Christ. 

In the whole course of these meetings we 
kept the very choicest of our books and tracts 
in the hands of the people. One observing 
Christian said to me, " There has been more 
reading here on the subject of religion in the 
past eighteen days, than there had been in 
three years before." Quite a number of the 
inquirers told me they were first awakened 
by reading a book or tract, and others that 
they were greatly aided by them in coming 
to Christ. Their interest in these pubhca- 
tions was shown by their contributing one 
hundred dollars on one of the Sabbaths to 
aid the tract and colporteur work. 



150 FIVE YEARS 

This town was one of the wickedest in 
Western Virginia, and had for years been a 
centre of infldehty. A worthy farmer who 
lived near told me, at the close of onr meet- 
ings, that for years he had never passed 
through that town without hearing oaths and 
vulgar songs; "but now," said he, "that is 
all stopped, and I hear them singing hymns 
of praise to God." This town will now com- 
pare favorably with any other within my 
knowledge for piety and sobriety. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 151 



CHAPTER XYI. 

At tlie earnest request of Mr. H- 



promised to meet him on tlie next Sabbath 
at one of his country churches, about six 
miles from town, in one of the most densely 
populated and wealthy communities in aU 

Western Yirginia, called Mount P- . It was 

only fourteen miles from my home at L . 

I reached the church a httle before the hour 
of service, a stranger to all except a few who 
had met me at the meetings in town. The 
house, although large, was crowded, and I 
took a seat in the back part of the house. In 
a few minutes Mr. H — — came in and walked 
up into the pulpit. He looked sick and fee- 
ble, and while glancing his eye over the house, 
saw me, and beckoned me to him. He was 
unable to speak louder than a whisper. 

Said he, "I am attacked with bronchitis 
and unable to preach, and you must preach." 
This I refused, on the ground that I had no 
authority. Said he, "I will give you the 
authority here, and stand between you and 



152 FIVE YEAES* 

danger." He arose, and with great exertion 
told the people that he had never had such a 
desire to preach as he had that day, but the 
Lord had shut his mouth, and sent me to do 
the preaching, for which he was very thankful. 

1 at once opened with singing and prayer, 
and announced my text, " Behold, I stand at 
the door and knock." I felt that the thoughts 
and words were not mine, but dictated by 
the Holy Ghost. I spoke for an hour. The 
audience was still as the grave. After an in- 
terval of thirty minutes, as was the custom, 
we resumed the service. My text in the after- 
noon was, "Remember now thy Creator in 
the days of thy youth." The feeling was 
deep. I asked the anxious to remain for in- 
struction, and twelve remained. At night I 
had a meeting at a private house, where great 
interest was manifested. 

At the earnest request of many, services 
similar to those of the Sabbath were contin- 
ued on Monday and for several* days after- 
wards. On Monday morning, when I came 
to the church, there was a crowd, and much 

to my joy and relief, Mr. W , one of our 

best colporteurs, was there. He had labored 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 153 

faithfully over all that ground but a few 
weeks before, and knew almost every one 
in that region. Although very diffident, he 
conducted the morning meeting with great 
acceptance. I spoke at eleven, and at two; 
and at the close of the last service we had 
eighteen inquirers. God seemed to come 
down as on the day of Pentecost. Ten of the 
number indulged hope, and their countenan- 
ces were ht up with joy. 

At night we had a meeting at Mr. D — — 's. 
One half could not get into the house. He 
had a son that was desperately wicked, and 
had done all in his power to oppose the work 
of God. During the time of the service he 
went out of the house in an agony of convic- 
tion for sin. The next morning, at family 
prayers, he cried out in the bitterness of his 
anguish, " God be merciful to me a sinner." 
A sister of his, that had been a very thought- 
less girl, also cried out in great distress. 
This seemed instantly to electrify the whole 
family. The place seemed awful with the 
majesty of God. I felt as much of the divine 
glory as I could bear. Such a scene I had 
never witnessed. Soon the whole family 



154 FIVE YEABS 

> 

were embraced in each other's arms, rejoicing 
in hope of eternal hfe. We seemed to be in 
the inner sanctuary and the most holy place. 
Although near fourteen years have since 
passed, while I describe this scene it fires my 
own soul afresh. 

Though it was a hurried season of the year 
with farmers, work was suspended, ploughs 
were stopped, white and black wexe in the 
church, or as near in as they could get, as 
the church would not hold more than half that 
came. 

The Tuesday morning prayer-meeting was 
one of the best I ever attended. At eleven 

the Eev. Mr. H returned, and preached 

one of the best of sermons. In the afternoon 
I spoke again. There were thirty-six more 
inquirers, and twelve more were indulging 
hope. 

On Friday night I held a meeting at the 
house of a Dr. N — — , who was a man of the 
world. I spoke on the hroad i^oad and wide 
gate. The doctor was awakened that night, 
and has ever since dated his first impressions 
on religious subjects to that time ; and two 
young men, one of them since educated for 



IN THE ALLEaHANIES. 155 

the ministry, likewise dated their conversion 
the same night. 

At eleven the next morning Eev. ]Mr. 
P- — preached, and in the afternoon Dr. 
McE . At the close of this service, sixty- 
two were added to the church on profession 
of tL.eir faith. 

When the hour for pnbhc worship arrived 
on Sabbath morning, one haK could not enter 
the church. It was arranged that I should 
invite those who could not get in to assemble 
out of hearing of the church and preach to 
them. I selected the graveyard, where most 
of the graves had enclosures of rails around 
and over them. The circumstance suggested 
my text : "Man dieth, and wasteth away; yea, 
man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" 
I felt as I never did before, standing among 
the dead and the Hving, and spoke as I never 
did before or since. Some of the wickedest 
men in all the country were before me. 

One gray-headed sinner seventy years old, 
who sat on the rails which were around the 
graves of his wife and children, shook as if 
he had the ague. A year after, he died; and 
often, when he was on his death-bed, spoke 



156 FIVE YEABS 

with deep sorrow of resisting God's Spirit at 
that time. At the close of the services in the 
church a collection of $120 was taken np for 
the Tract Society, which was five times as 
much as could have been obtained a week 
before. Books and tracts were circulated 
every day in these meetings, and read .with 
interest. Twenty persons told me that books 
or tracts were the means of either awaken- 
ing them, or directing them to Christ. In 
addition to the sixty-two added to the church 
as above, twenty-four who obtained a hope 
at these meetings joined a church of another 
denomination a mile distant. 

Only two miles from the above meetings, 
Avas the church of a large congTegation of 
Seceders. Till this time they had not gone 
to hear any preacher but their own, nor ad- 
mitted any other denomination to preach in 
their church. But so great was this work 
that some of their young people had. been 
drawn away, and gained a hope ia Christ, 
but kept it secret. Their pastor, Eev. Mr. 
McG , came himself on Saturday, and be- 
came deeply moved with what he saw and 
heard. In the evening Rev. Mr. H told 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 157 

him there were many still anxious about their 
souls, and not a few of them were among his 
own people; "and now," said he, "this har- 
vest must be gathered, and if you will go on 
^\ith a meeting next week I will close my 
meetings to-morrow.'' This arrangement was 
made, and it was agreed that I should go and 

assist ]VIr. McG on the afternoon of the 

next day, after the services in that church 
should be closed. 

At four o'clock the Seceder church was 
crowded, and all the ardor of feehng seemed 
to come along with the people. Eey. Mr. 

McG was very feeble in health, but was 

a devoted servant of God; and it was ar- 
ranged that he was to take a text and speak 
ten minutes, and I was then to fill up the 
hour. After that service we held another in 
a private house at night. 

The next morning at nine, we had the house 
full at the prayer-meeting. At eleven, Mr. 
McG preached ten minutes, and I fol- 
lowed ; and after the service all were supplied 
with tracts. During the afternoon service 
the presence of God seemed to move every 
heart. And as I believe that when God 



158 FIVE YEAES 

moves on men's hearts, ttey ought to move 
too as tlie prodigal did, when I had ceased 
speaking, and the congregation were singing 
the eighty-fourth Psalm, Rouse's version, I 

said to Mr. McG- that I had no doubt 

but if an invitation was given some would re- 
main for instruction. He feared it would not 
be acceptable to the officers of the church, 
all of whom had come from Scotland, and 
had been accustomed to hear preaching only 
from Seceders, and considered occasional hear- 
ing an offence. But he said he would not in- 
terfere with what I thought was duty. 

As soon as the song was sung, I arose and 
told them that a piece of old Scotch history 
had just come into my mind. That over one 
hundred years ago, previous to their com- 
munion occasions, the minister at the close 
of his services for some days would invite all 
that intended to commune for the first time 
to remain for instruction in regard to their 
duties ; and that for want of thcot many came 
to the Lord's table who were ignorant of the 
nature of the ordinance. And as I beUeved 
there were a number who contemplated join- 
ing the church and going to the communion 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 159 

table on the next Sabbath for the first time, 
I would ask all such to remain after the con- 
gregation was dismissed, to receive such in- 
struction as should be given. After some 
agitation all was quiet, and I told them the 
first point of inquiry for them was, to know if 
they were born again, and spoke some twenty 
minutes on the nature and evidences of re- 
generation. The old elders sobbed aloud; 
and as soon as the services were closed, they 
had me by the hand, and said, " That is just 
what our young people need." The oldest el- 
der, whose daughter was among the inquirers, 
came up leaning on his staff, and said, " That 
did my soul good." "We had an appointment 
that night five miles distant, and this old man 
went all the way with me on horseback. The 
house was crowded. Many were awakened, 
and among them Mr. B — — the proprietor, 
who was a hardened sinner of fifty years. 
He soon professed his faith in Christ. 

The next morning this old elder, Mr. M , 

said to me, " Oh, Mr. C , I slept none last 

night. I have had a foretaste of heaven, and 
long to be there. I have never experienced 
religious joy till last night; and now I ha've 



160 FIVE YEARS 

one request to make, and deny me not, that 
is, tliat you commune with me next Sab- 
bath." 

The next day we had similar services, and 
at the close of the last service I told them as 
all the congregation seemed desirous to hear 
what was said to those wishing to consider 
their duty to join the church, such would 
come forward while we sung the twenty- 
third Psalm. Sixteen thus presented them- 
selves, and Rev. Mr. McG spoke to them 

with a heavenly itliction. The next day there 
were twenty-eight inquirers, and the next day 
thirty-nine, of whom twenty-two appeared to 
be indulging a good hope in Christ. All the 
business of the field was suspended, and many 
were saying it was the dawn of the day of 
glory to the church. As the time had arriv- 
ed for me to visit another place fifty miles 
distant, to engage in similar labors, the, pas- 
tor told them he wanted them to make a 
thank-offering to the Tract Society, and in a 
few minutes $80 was on the table, and a pres- 
ent of $20 to me. On the Sabbath fifty-six 
were added to the church, and more than 
thirty to a Methodist church near by. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 161 

Fourteen montlis after, I yisited this churcli 
again. The presence of God was still there, 
and many said they felt as if they were ready 
to begin again where they had left off four- 
teen months before. The strong prejudices 
against worshipping with other Christians 
were among the things that had been. 

During my brief stay many incidents were 
related to me. One young man told me it was 
"Advice to a Married Couple" that awaken- 
ed him, as he was soon to be married. Three 
of the anxious got relief by reading the tract 
""What is it to Beheve in Christ?" A man 
well acquainted in the community told me 
thirty family altars were reared on one Sab- 
bath night. 

In one instance two families lived in one 
house, and both the men and their wives had 
joined the church. They felt that they must 
have family worship, but neither was willing 
to pray. One said he could do the singing, 
and the other said he would read the Bible. 
At last they united in asking a lame negro 
man that was pious, and he led in prayer. 

There is probably no region of our coun- 
try, when all the difficulties are considered, 

Five Yeari. 1 1 



162 FIVE YEABS 

where the Tract Society and colporteurs 
haye done as much real good as in Western 
Virginia. Some of the most godly men we 
ever employed had visited every house again 
and again, and most of the books to be found 
in the houses were the Society's publications. 
In some of the poorer districts they were 
even the only school-books. I have heard of 
schools in those mountains where one had 
Bunyan, another Baxter's Call, or Saints' 
Rest, and so on all through the school. We 
can say that in many places the work has 
made the wilderness and the solitary place 
rejoice ^nd blossom as the rose. 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 163 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

Aftee one night's rest at home, I left the 

next morning for C , thirty miles distant, 

to meet my friend Eev. Mr. D , who was 

with US at the commencement of the meet- 
ings at L- , and engage in another meet- 
ing. The Eev. Mr. P , who was pastor at 

that place, was likewise a colporteur of the 
Tract Society, and had five little churches in 
as many different communities in the county. 

So he left us to hold a meeting in C , 

while he was laboring in other portions of 
his field. 

I had on several occasions passed through 
this town, which, in a rehgious view, was one 
of the darkest I have ever visited. I saw the 
men, most of them young men, while Mr. 

P was preaching to a few, mostly women, 

standing all round the church with their heads 
in the windows, talking aloud, and even swear- 
ing profanely, till the preacher's voice could 
scarcely be heard. As Mr. T> was a 



164 FIVE YEARS 

stranger there, I informed him that we might 
expect open opposition. The meetings were 
to be conducted in the same way as those to 
which I have abeady alluded. 

After warning the people of the impropri- 
ety of such conduct, and insisting that if they 
attended the services, they should come into 
the church, Mr. D preached, and I fol- 
lowed by telling of the Lord's work in the 
places where I had been. A deep solemnity 
seemed to fall on every soul, and we felt God 
was there. All present were well supplied 
with tracts. 

The next day our meetings were very sol- 
emn, and still more so at night, when there 
were five anxiously inquiring for salvation. 
By the next night most of the females began 
to feel very deeply, and some young men 
began to interrupt by their talking; but I 
rebuked them most solemnly, and we had no 
more interruptions during that meeting, and 
I am happy to say there have been none since 
in that place. 

This meeting began on Thursday night, 
and by Monday twenty-two had professed 
hope in Christ. Among the number was one 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 165 

man sixty years old. He had been intem- 
perate forty years. Thougli lie was then so 
ignorant that he did not know who was the 
Saviour of sinners, and did not know one 
letter of the alphabet, he still Hves a monu- 
ment of grace. 

One young lady of fortune, who was there 
at school, and whose anxiety about her soul 
bordered on despair, gained a hope on Satur- 
day. On the next Saturday she joined the 
church, and then told her companions, "I 
will go to the Lord's table to-morrow; it may 
be my last Sabbath on earth." On Monday 
morning she came to school apparently in her 
usual health, and seemed deeply affected by 
the opening prayer; but soon complained of 
being unwell, went to her boarding-house, 
and in forty-eight hours she was numbered 
with the dead. Grace and glory came very 
near together. 

After a few days of rest, at the request of 

the Eev. Mr. H , to whom I have alluded 

at the town of U , I met him in an old 

log-church on "Wolf Creek, one of his preach- 
ing-places. I left home in the morning, rode 
twenty-four miles, and reached the place at 



166 FIVE YEAES 

one. Mr. H was preacliing to a small 

congregation, as it was now the beginning 
of harvest. After an interval of thirty min- 
utes, I addressed the people. The next day 
was Saturday. The house was full; and in 
the evening we had five inquirers. Sabbath 
morning Mr. H preached with great pow- 
er, and then left for another appointment, 
with the expectation of returning on Monday. 
In the mean time I was to go on with the 
services. In the evening I had thirteen in- 
quirers ; and among them was Colonel H , 

fifty years old, and Major B , sixty-eight, 

two men of the largest wealth and highest 
standing in that community, who had been 
remarkable instances of grieving the Spirit 
of God. I related in their hearing the fact 
of what an aged man had told me about his 
grieving the Spirit. I saw it afiected them 
both very deeply. They told me they had 
felt all that that man did whose case I had de- 
scribed, and that they had now made up their 
minds to seek Christ. In a few days both 
were hoping in Christ; and two years ago 
they had continued active Christians. 
Becoming exhausted, almost as if I was at 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 167 

death's door, I left for home ; but Eev. Mr. 

H continued the meetings. Such was 

the interest awakened, that daily labor in the 
harvest-field was entirely suspended. Mas- 
ters and servants were all at the same mercy- 
seat. God was there; the world was lost 
sight of, and eternal things took its place. 
Everybody had a tract in hand. You could 
see them reading on their way home ; some 
in carriages, some on horseback, and others 
on foot. The result was, thirty-six were add- 
ed to that Httle church, and many others to 
the other churches in that region of country. I 
soon learned that one wild, thoughtless young 
woman was awakened by reading a tract, and 
she is now one of the mothers in Israel. 
I had received several letters from the Bev. 

Mr. C , an aged man who had moved to 

Fayette county, to preach in a very destitute 
region, near the celebrated HaioTcs Nest^ or 
BlarshdWs Pillar, a cliff or precipice of about 
one thousand feet perpendicular height, hang- 
ing over New Eiver, ten miles from its junc- 
tion with the Gauley. After a day of rest, I 
took the stage, and at the end of fifty miles 
reached the place. On Friday morning the 



168 FIVE YEARS 

meeting began in the woods. No chnrcli was 
near; but an arbor was made by putting up 
poles and covering them with green bushes. 
"When I came it rained, and only about thir- 
ty were present ; but God was there with his 
gracious power. We had a meeting in the 
evening at one of the neighboring cabins, 
and a crowd was collected. 

The next morning we met at the arbor 
The day was fair and beautiful, and the crowd 
great. The Lord helped me greatly in the 
service. At the interval I scattered tracts 
freely, and set all to reading who could read. 
At the close of the afternoon service there 
were eleven anxious inquirers. On Sabbath 
morning we met at nine for prayer. By 
eleven o'clock a thousand people had assem- 
bled; and after the evening service, seventeen 
came out for instruction. On Monday the 
communion was to be administered, and sev- 
enteen were added to the Lord's people. The 
Lord was there in his mercy. After the af- 
ternoon service nineteen more came out as 
inquirers, among them men of sixty years 
and from that down to boys, most of whom 
professed rehgion soon after. A church was 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 169 

soon after organized, wHch still lives. The 
blessed influence spread for miles around, 
and all denominations shared in the glorious 
work. I shall ever beheve the way was pre- 
pared by a faithful colporteur, who had been 
over the ground, a few months before. 

Mr. P -, an elder in a vacant church 

called Locust Bottom, had applied to the 

Eev. Mr. P to come and administer the 

communion in that church, and to bring me 
with him. The meeting was to begin on the 
Friday before the third Sabbath in August. 
I left home on Thursday morning, and reach- 
ed the place, fifty-four miles distant, at noon 
the next day. In the afternoon I addressed 
the audience by telling them what the Lord 
had done in so many other places, and that 
I felt assured if they would seek him with 
their whole hearts he would bless them too. 

The next morning we were assembled at 
nine for prayer and exhortation. At eleven 

Mr. C , a student of divinity, spoke with 

much fervor. After recess I spoke with much 
liberty, and five came out as inquirers. "We 
held meetings at night in two places; both 
well attended, and several were awakened. 



ItO FIVE YEAES 

The Sabbath morning prayer -meeting was 
crowded. The communion was administered 

by Mr. P ; and after recess I spoke again, 

and we had nine inquirers. The next morn- 
ing we had a crowd, and there were clear indi- 
cations of the presence of the Spirit of God. 

Some weeks previous, Mr. W— — , a col- 
porteur to whom I have alluded, had been all 
through this region, and circulated books. 

A daughter of Colonel S , one of the elders, 

became awakened by reading one of them, and 
her state of mind had aroused some of her 
friends and companions, who were among 
those most deeply concerned; and it was 
agreed to hold the evening meeting at the 
colonel's, though four miles distant. 

In addition to the colonel's large family, a 
number of others were present, all seeking 
peace with God. After tea was over we were 
all seated in a large parlor, to the number 

of at least twenty. As Mr. C expected 

soon to leave, I asked him to lead us in prayer, 
and especially to remember the anxious souls 
in the room. At the close of the prayer, one 
of the colonel's daughters was sobbing as if 
she would break her heart. I sat down be- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 171 

side her, and pointed her to Jesus who died 
for sinners. IShe looked at me a moment, and 
then sprang into her mother's arms, and said, 
"Oh, mother, I have found Jesus." But a 
short time had elapsed, when a daughter-in- 
law of Mrs. S went to her and said, " Oh, 

mother, I have found the Saviour too." Soon 
the wife of one of the elders who was there 

cried, "Oh, Mrs. S , the Saviour has 

blessed me too. Oh, what a Saviour I have 
found." This woman had been so opposed 
to rehgion that her husband could not have 
family prayers. All these three had been 
awakened by reading tracts. During all this 
time the old grandmother, ninety years old, 
and for over seventy years a follower of Christ, 
was walking through the house saying, " Oh, 

Mr. C , is not this heaven ? my poor soul 

can bear no more of the divine glory." 

In a short time Colonel S , who had 

been absent, returned. As soon as his daugh- 
ter saw him she was in his arms, saying, " Oh, 
my dear father, your prayers are answered; 
I have found Jesus." 

By this time the news had spread all over 
the farm, and more than fifty blacks of all 



172 FIVE YEARS 

ages were in and round the house. The old 

mother of Col. S said to die, " Oh, Mr. 

C , wont you preach to these poor souls?" 

"Certainly," said I; and in a few minutes a 
large room was crowded with them. I stood 
in the door, with the old mother holding me 
by the arm, and announced the words, " Be- 
hold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy 
which shaU be to aU people." The negroes 
soon becanje so excited they could hardly con- 
tain themselves. Some were on their knees 
prajdng, and others clapping their hands. 
The old lady undertook to keep them in or- 
der ; but her own heart became so deeply im- 
pressed, that her bodily strength sunk under 
it. The scene was one that neither tongue 
nor pen can describe. No doubt some who 
have never seen or felt any thing Uke this, 
will call it enthusiasm ; but if it was, I would 
wish -to live and die in the midst of such en- 
thusiasm. This was one of the most intel- 
ligent families in that community — aU edu- 
cated and refined, and strict Presbyterians. 
I have found but few such famihes. 

The next morning we all repaired to the 
church, where I was met by Mr. W , the 



IN THE ALLEaHANIES. 1^3 

colporteur whom I have mentioned. Before 
that day's meeting closed eight more pro- 
fessed hope. That night I had a meeting at 

a Mr. 's, who was a professed atheist, 

but within a few days after, was numbered 
among God's people. 

The next day the house was crowded be- 
low with whites, and the gallery with blacks. 
The presence of God seemed to be with every 
soul. -There were in the house two men, 
brothers, of large wealth and much intelli- 
gence, both unmarried and somewhat dissi- 
pated. For two days they had been deeply 
concerned, and their pious friends were ear- 
nest in prayer for them. Just as I was clos- 
ing my last discourse in the evening, when 
there was scarce a dry cheek in the house, a 
negro who was subject to fits, fell in a fit in 
the gallery, and made the most unearthly 
noise I ever heard. All fled from the house 
with fright, thinking the house was falling. 
These two brothers, when they went out, said 
they were glad at what had happened, for if 
they had remained any longer they would have 
been compelled to yield to the Spirit of God. 
They both went away, and never returned ; 



lU FIVE YEARS 

and said often afterwards that they sealed 
their damnation that day. Each of them died 
a horrible death with delirium tremens. 

I exhorted three or four times each day 

throughout all the week, and brother W 

scattered books and tracts, and talked and 
prayed. Twenty -two were added to that 
church, and as many more joined other 
churches. Before this meeting began, that 
church was nearly broken up, and in six 
months after, the student to whom I have 
alluded was the pastor. 

Ten years after, as I was passing through 
this region in a stage, one of my travelling 
companions told me he was one of the con- 
verts at a place where I had labored. We 
were alone in the stage when we reached the 
place of crossing a river near this church. 
The driver stopped to water his horses, and 
I handed tracts to two men that were work- 
ing at the edge of the river. They looked at 
me a moment, and then caught my hands: 

"Oh, this is Mr. . It was jour tracts 

and labors that God blessed to save our 
souls." The stage-driver dropped his bucket 
and rushed to me : " Oh, is it possible I have 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. lib 

been hauling Mr. C and did not know it? 

It was your tracts and labors whicli you be- 
gan in the rain in Fayette county that God 
blessed to my soul." Here were four men 
who had been led to Christ at different places, 
and now had met the one whom they called 
the instrument of their salvation. To God 
alone be all the glory. 



1T6 FIVE YEARS 



OHAPTEE XVIII. 

As, in the providence of God, I have been 
brought into contact with thousands of per- 
sons who have told me with much candor 
the history of their own minds, and con- 
versed freely in reference to the all-important 
subject of their salvation, I have thought it to 
be my duty to record some of the facts I have 
met, for 'the benefit and warning of others. 
That there is a point when the Holy Spirit, 
if wilfully and perseveringly resisted, ceases 
to strive with man, no one doubts who be- 
lieves in his renewing and sanctifying agency; 
but too many take it for granted that this 
point is not reached till the close of life, and 
neglect or resist the strivings of the Spirit 
till he gives them up to hardness of heart 
and blindness of mind, perhaps many years 
before their earthly existence has terminated. 

The first case I shall mention is that of a 
woman about thirty years of age, with whom 
I conversed in the presence of her mother. I 
inquired if she was a member of any church. 



j 



IN THE ALLEaHANIES. Itt 

She answered, " No." I asked if slie had not 
at some time felt concern for her salvation. 
*' Yes," she said, " I think but few have been 
more anxious on the subject than I was once." 
I asked at what period of her life this oc- 
curred, when she gave me the following ac- 
count of God's deahngs with her. " When I 
was about fifteen years old, I felt that I was 
a great sinner in the sight of God.^ Often 
my distress was so great that I could not 
sleep ; and for three years I seldom had 
peace for a week at a time. I knew that the 
Holy Spirit was striving with me, and that I 
ought to yield my heart to his influence; but 
I thought it would cut off my pleasures in 
the midst of youth. I tried to banish the 
thoughts of eternity; but they would still 
return and interrupt my pleasure. I tried 
reading novels and romances ; they gave me 
relief for a while, but my distress returned. 
At last I went to the baUroom — and I have 
never since had such feelings as before." 
"And have you no fears," said I, "that you 
have grieved away the Spirit of God for 
ever?" "Yes," she repUed, "I have no doubt 
of that, and that I shall be lost." I proceed- 

FIvs Years. 1 2 



lis FIVE YEARS 

ed to describe the state and misery of the 
lost, and appealed to her, by the prayers of 
her mother and the tears which were then 
falling from her sunken eyes, by the danger 
of an eternal separation from pious friends, 
by the glories of heaven and the agonies of 
the Son of God, now to make her peace with 
him and be saved. " All this," she calmly 
replied, "has been tried upon me before. 
Nothing that you or any other man can say 
on that subject, can move me now. My doom 
is fixed." 

Another case was that of Mr. B , who 

was over seventy years old, and living an un- 
godly life. I approached him with kindness, 
and at length he conversed fr^eely. I spoke 
of the goodness of God to him in his ad- 
vanced years, and asked if he hoped he had 
an interest in Christ. He replied, " No." I 
asked if he received the Bible as the word of 
God. He answered, "Yes." I said, "The 
Bible teaches that a man must be born again 
before he can enter the kingdom of God ; do 
you think you have experienced that change ?" 
"No," said he, "I never have." I saw that 
he was intelligent, and inquired if no " still 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 179 

small yoice" had ever whispered to him, 
"Son, give me thy heart?" " Yes," said he, 
" often. I used to feel, but for many years I 
have not felt as I did when I was young. ' I 
then had some very serious times." I asked 
at what period he had felt most deeply the 
importance of religion. He replied, " "When 
I was seventeen I began to feel deeply at 
times, and this continued for two or three 
years ; but I determined to put it off till I 
should be settled in life. After I was mar- 
ried, I reflected that the time had come when 
I had promised to attend to rehgion ; but I 
had bought this farm, and I thought it would' 
not suit me to become rehgious till it was 
paid for, as some time would have to be de- 
voted to attend church, and also some ex- 
pense. I then resolved to put it off ten years ; 
but when the ten years came round, I thought 
no more about it. I often try to think, but I 
cannot keep my mind on the subject one 
moment." I urged him by all the terrors of 
dying an enemy of God, to set about the work 
of repentance. "It is too late," said he, "I 
beUeve my doom is sealed; and it is just that 
it should be so, for the Spirit strove long with 



180 FIVE YEABS 

me, but I refused." I then turned to his chil- 
dren, young men and young women who were 
around him, and entreated them not to put 
off the subject of religion, or grieve the Spirit 
of God in their youthful days. The old man 
added, " Mind that If I had attended to it 
then, it would have been well with me to- 
day ; but now it is too late." 

On conversing with a man in middle life, 
he informed me that his father was a devoted 
Christian, that he was faithfully instructed 
and his mind was early impressed with the 
importance of religion. In his youth, there 
was a period of six months in which he was 
in distress, day and night; and a voice within 
seemed to be continually saying, "Forsake 
your sins and come unto me, and I will give 
you peace." "But," he added, "I did not 
wish to be a Christian then; I thought it 
would ruin my pleasures. I visited a part of 
the country where dancing and balls were 
frequent ; in a little time my serious thoughts 
were gone, and I have never had any since." 
I asked if he did not fear that God had given 
him up. "Yes," said he, "I am afraid he 
has. I go to church and read the Bible, and 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 181 

try to feel, but I cannot." I strove to arouse 
his fears, but it was in vain. I afterwards 
learned that lie was pursuing his worldly 
business on the Sabbath. 

It is not for me to pronounce that God had 
said of all these persons, they are " joined to 
their idols, let them alone ;" " woe to them 
when I depart from them ;" but the state of 
all such is unspeakably alarming. . If the eye 
of such a one falls upon these lines — if you 
have persisted in saying, " Go thy way for 
this time ; let me alone, that I may have the 
pleasures of this life," and have quenched 
the Spirit by resorting to amusements, the 
noyel, the baUroom, or the theatre, God may 
have giyen you what you desired ; but what 
have you now of all these pleasures? Can 
you look back upon them with an approving 
conscience? Will they bring you consola- 
tion in a dying hour? Have you not even 
now in your own soul, if you would make the 
confession, the gnawings of the worm that 
never dies, the burning of the fire that is 
never quenched? If the Spirit of God is now 
striving with you, it is the most momentous 
period of your existence. It is perhaps the 



182 FIVE YEARS 

turning-point between heaven and hell — the 
songs of angels, or the wailings of the finally 
lost. Beware of stifling the Spirit. Multi- 
tudes have told me the dreadful tale, "I went 
to scenes of amusement, or turned to the ex- 
citing romance, and I have felt no anxiety 
since." "While the Spirit strives it is the 
seed-time of eternal life, the embryo of a 
happy immortaUty. Sit not doT\Ti to count 
the loss of sinful pleasures ; receive the Sav- 
iour into your heart, and you will have pleas- 
ures lasting as eternity — ^pleasures that leave 
no sting behind — pleasures that will sustain 
the soul when on your dying pillow, when the 
last trumpet shall sound, and the congregated 
world stand before God. 

Many facts of a more cheering character 

might be given. The Eev. N. C , who had 

a pastoral charge in M county, said to 

me, "A colporteur had left a copy of the 
Anxious Inquirer in the house of a wealthy 

man in M county. After some time he 

became interested for his salvation. One day 
while there on a visit I pointed him to a chap- 
ter in this book, and requested him to read it 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 183 

Jle read it, and soon found peace. Like every 
real Christian, he desired the salvation of his 
relations. He sent the book to his brother, a 
physician, who, together with a sister, were 
led to Christ by reading it. The book is kept 
in the family as an heir-loom." On another 

occasion Eev. Mr. C said he was sent 

for to go some distance to see a sick woman. 
His custom was always to carry with him a 
few select books to give or loan. He gave 
her a copy of the Anxious Inquirer, and re- 
quested her husband to read it to her. Both 
were irrehgious; but by God's blessing on 
reading this book, both were led to the Sav- 
iour. A colporteur sold a copy of the same 
book to a man who sent it to an absent son. 
It led him and two of his companions to 
Christ. A colporteur gave a copy of Baxter's 
Call to a very wicked family, who never Avent 
to church. Within ten months he found the 
reading of it had been blessed to three of 
the household. A tract put into a wag- 
oner's feed-trough while driving his team 
on the Sabbath, was the means of stop- 
ping him from travelling on the Sabbath, 
and led him to repentance. He became 



184 FIVE YEARS 

eminent for his piety and nsefiilness in tha 
chnrcli. 

A missionary wto preached once a month 
in a wild region, and gaye part of his time 
to colporteur work, often told me of a family 
that Hved just beside his httle moxmtain 
church, but never entered it. When he be- 
gan the colporteur work he made them a 
visit. The man told him he did not wish 
him to say any thing to him on the subject 
of rehgion; that if he wanted to hear him, 
he could go to the church. All the time he 
talked and prayed, the man was muttering, 
and his wife increased the speed of her wheel 
to drown his voice. Finding all his efforts to 
get their attention in vain, he laid down a 
copy of Baxter's Call and a few tracts, and 
left them. On his return to fill his next ap- 
pointment at the little church, to his surprise 
this man and his wife were in the church near 
the pulpit. During service they were deeply 
exercised. At the close he spoke to them 
about their souls. They told him that after 
he left their house they began to think about 
the way they had treated him, and had read 
his httle books, and found they were great 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 185 

sinners. At his next eommunion they both 
joined his church, and they were among the 
most consistent and useful of its members. 

One morning I took the stage to go to the 
raiboad, some sixteen miles distant. There 
were two gentlemen in the stage. Both 
knew me, but I did not know them. One 
was a preacher, with whom I talked all the 
way to the d6p6t. While waiting for the cars, 
the other passenger, a fine-looking young 
man, said, " I can't let this opportunity pass 
without making myself known to you. Do 
you remember laying your hand on the 

shoulder of a youth in the town of B 

six years ago, and urging him to seek the fa- 
vor of God, and handing him a Uttle book?" 
I said I had no recollection of it, as I was 
doing something of that sort almost every 
day. ""Well," said he, "that talk and book 
were the means, I trust, of my salvation. I 
have since that time gone through college, 
and hope soon to preach the gospel." He 
was the son of a poor widow. He is now an 
able minister of the New Testament. 

One day while on a journey, I came to a 
very small cabin on the top of a high motm- 



186 FIVE YEARS 

tain. A poor widow was by the door in very 
homely appareL I asked her if she had a 
Bible. "No," said she, "but I have a part 
of a Testament, and a number of little tracts." 
Seeing a number of clean but poorly clad 
children, I began to ask them questions. 
The answers they gave would have done 
credit to most of our Sunday-school children. 
I asked her if she -had a church or Sunday- 
school near. "No; there is no church or 
Sunday-school anywhere in reach. My chil- 
dren have never been in either, and I have 
not been at church for eight years." "Why," 
said I, " madam, how have you got your chil- 
dren so well instructed?" She ran into her 
cabin and brought her whole Hbrary, which 
consisted of a part of a Testament, and sev- 
eral little books and tracts sewed together, 
which I learned had been given her by col- 
porteurs in their visits. Said she, "I read 
these to my children every Sunday, and teach 
them to read them, till they know all that is 
in them." I added to her supply httle books 
till the countenances of herself and her chil- 
dren were radiant with joy, and I felt it was 
truly " more blessed to give than to receive." 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 18t 

A few miles fiirtlier on I stopped at another 
cabin. The woman looked at me a moment. 
"Oh, I know you. You are the man that 
preached and gave us tracts at the church 
down on the river. I trust I was converted 
there. Can't you give me some tracts to 
give away? I am living now among very 
wicked people." I gave her a package, and 
passed on. 



188 FIVE YEARS 



CHAPTEE XIX. 



On the invitation of several leading men, 

I visited L , east of the mountains. The 

evening I got there the Eev. Mr. N-^ called 

on me to "hold forth the word of life" for 
him that night. He stated that there was 
some interest in his church, and that he was 
unable to make any special effort, on account 
of his health. Although I had travelled forty 
miles that day by stage, in an hour I was ad- 
dressing the people; and for eight days meet- 
ings were continued by exhorting and scat- 
tering tracts; a^ the close of which time 
twenty-two had professed faith in Christ, 
some of them among the most influential men 
in the city. 

On the first Sabbath morning I was there, 
a lady of earnest piety prevailed on her hus- 
band, who was a Universalist and had been 
raised in that faith, and a yoimg German 
whom he had employed as a clerk, to accom- 
pany her to the church. This German had 
been a tutor in one of the colleges in Ger- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 189 

many, a man of fine education ; but lie was 
connected witli a rebellion against the govern- 
ment, and had to fly in the night, and made 
an almost miraculous escape in disguise. He 
was an infidel. My subject was, "the worth 
of the soul;" and God truly gave me what I 
said. They both became awakened ; and 

seven years after, Mr. H the husband of 

the lady joined the church, and is now an 
elder. He says he was never without con- 
viction from that Sabbath morning till he 
yielded to Christ. 

The German, Mr. S , became intensely 

exercised. He attended all the inquiry meet- 
ings, and often called on the pastor, Mr. 
N — — . His agony of mind bordered on de- 
spair. He was told again and again that 
whenever he could give up all for Christ he 
would find peace. After spending a whole 

night in prayer, he came to Mr. N in the 

morning, woke him out of sleep, and said, 

" Mr. N , I have nothing on earth I care 

for but this box of rings and jewels, which 
my mother and sisters took from their ears 
and fingers the night I fled from Germany ; 
these I have held as sacred mementos of 



190 FIVE YEARS 

their love. Take them, sell them, and give 

to the poor." Mr. N said, ^'Mr. S , 

you are not far from the kingdom of God ; 
let us pray." In a few moments he threw 

his arms around ^Mr. N 's neck, saying, 

" Oh, I have found Jesus." Mr. N handed 

him back the box, and said, " Mr. S , the 

Lord does not need the jewels. All he re- 
quired was, that feeling of heart you mani- 
fested in giving them up." This man is now 
a missionary in some of the islands of the sea. 
His talents are all consecrated to God. 

A young lady. Miss L , very wealthy 

and proud, became awakened, and continued 
for many days on the verge of despair. She 
hardly ate or slept. She even became des- 
perate : said God was not as good as his 
word; that she was willing to give up all for 
Christ, but he would not save her. "We talked 
and prayed with her several times each day, 
but all in vain. At last I said to her, " Miss 

L , you say you are willing to give up 

aU for Christ?" "Yes," said she, "even life 
itself." "Well," said I, "in the name of my 
Master I ask you, out of your large wealth, 
to give me a donation for the Tract Society." 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 191 

She replied sternly, " I am not going to buy 
my salvation." Said I, "The Lord can do 
without your money ; but I have asked this 
to show you the deceitfulness of your own 
heart. You said a moment ago that you 
would give even life itself. Now," said I, " I 
shall leave you to reflect." In a few days she 
sent for me to rejoice with her, and the dona- 
tion was heartily made. 

I then labored for three weeks in other 
churches in the city, and a large number "^ 
professed religion. 

Among other services, I was a week with 

Eev. Mr. W , who has been. for some 

years president of one of our auxiliary tract 
societies. At the close of his meeting one 
day, he said he would tell them what one tract 
had done. He gave the tract, "Have you the 
Wedding Garment?" to a young lady, with 
the request that she would go and read it 
over three times. She did so, and the next 
day she came to him as an inquirer. He 
then gave it to her sister, making the same 
request, and the next day she was an inquirer. 
He then gave it to a young man, and he has 
been led to Christ by it. " And here before 



192 FIVE YEAES 

you," said lie, "are all three of them now 
rejoicing in hope." 

The last month of the year 1850, 1 was in- 
vited by the Eev. Mr. to visit M 

county, and spend a week with him at each 
of his charges, as he had two. The distance 
was ninety miles ; the roads almost impass- 
able. I shrunk from the journey ; but a voice 
seemed to say, "You must go." When I 
reached the town they were holding a tem- 
perance convention, which I addressed on 
two occasions. 

On Sunday morning I spoke first on the 
tract cause, and raised a collection of $150. 
The night service was well attended. We 
continued meeting twice each day, and vis- 
ited families and distributed books and tracts 
all the rest of the time till Wednesday, but 
with no very marked results. 

Notice had been given that meetings would 

begin at B , Mr. C 's other charge, 

nine miles distant, on Thursday morning at 
eleven. We reached there at the hour, and 
had only eleven hearers. At the close of the 

service we were invited to a Mr. B 's to 

dine. He was a backslider, rich and eccen- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 193 

trie. We had determined to visit families, 
talk, pray, and circulate tracts, till the time 
for the night service. 

When we came to Mr. B 's, the old man 

invited us into the parlor, and in a few min- 
utes one of his daughters came in, a very 
beautiful girl, and highly educated. After a 
little time I introduced the subject of religion 
to her kindly and pohtely. She gave me one 
of the most scornful looks I ever got, and rose 
to leave me. I was holding in my hand the 
tract '' Dont le Offended f and just as she 
was passing me I presented it before her. I 
saw the father was offended too. Eev. IVIr. 

C and I both felt unhappy ; but in a few 

minutes we were called to dinner, and Mr. 

C introduced me to two other daughters, 

vv^hich made all the family. 

When we were nearly through dinner, the 
offended one came to the table. Her eyes 
indicated that she had been weeping, but 
nothing was said. x4.fter dinner we went to 
another house, and met a young lady who 
was teacher in the female academy and also 
in a dancing-school. She made very Light of 
religion, and said she preferred the ballroom 



194 FIVE YEARS 

to the cliurcli. I spoke to her the truth very 
plainly, and gave her a tract on dancing; 
and she turned away offended, and said she 
had no respect for such Puritanical religion. 
At night we had a tolerably good congrega- 
tion, and the Lord was there indeed. Such 
was the state of things, that we invited all 
that were concerned about their souls to re- 
main; and to our utter astonishment, the 
two offended ones were among them, weeping 
bitterly. The exhibition they had made of 
their wickedness had so overwhelmed them 
that they could scarcely wait till night to 
confess their sins. 

The next morning we resumed our visits. 

The first visit was to Mr. T 's, an elder in 

the church. In conversation with a daugh- 
ter of his she manifested much feeUng. I 
gave a tract to one of his sons, who, after 
reading it, came to his mother, and said, 
"Oh, mother, if I was to die as I am, my 
soul would be lost." That day and night the 
congregation was large. By this time the 
pious people in the church had awoke, and 
all were at work with books and tracts. 
Business was almost suspended in the vil- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 195 

lage, and religion was tlie only theme. Al- 
most all were inquiring the way to Zion, with 
the exception of half a dozen men, who threw 
every obstacle they could in the way. One 
of the worst of them went away to get out of 
the influence of the meetings, and was dead 
in three days. Another left his business and 
went to the country to avoid the presence of 
God, and has since died without hope. 

The interest had become intense. On the 
way home from church three young ladies ob- 
tained hope almost simultaneously, and were 
all embraced in each other's arms. A short 
time after, a number of the anxious were as- 
sembled at Mr. T 's, where I was stopping. 

All were pleading for mercy, but soon they 
began to sing praises to God. They were 
heard by people around, and in a short time 
many assembled. The new-bom souls were 
rushing into the arms of each other, and of 
their fathers and mothers, and thanking them 
for their prayers. This joy was no doubt much 
like that of the day of Pentecost. One hun- 
dred and twenty-five professed their faith in 
Christ, and were soon after added to the 
churches ; and so far as I have been able to 



196 FIVE YEARS 

learn, there was no case of backsliding. 
Where God does the work, the work is well 
done ; but where it is done by mere human 
machinery, the results are very unsatisfac- 
tory. The town was revolutionized by this 
outpouring of the Spirit. The ballroom gave 
way to the prayer-meeting, and the drunk- 
ard's songs to those of Zion. 

I gave Baxter's Call to a youth during this 
meeting, who told me, eight years afterwards 
when I met him a preacher, that that book 
was the means of his salvation, and had it 
not been for it, he never should have entered 
the ministry. 

At another meeting some months after- 
wards in C , there was a powerful work of 

grace, in every respect like those to which I 
have alluded. One old man professed faith 
in Christ, who was the third unbehever in 
the family who had been led to Christ by the 
same copy of James' Anxious Inquirer. 

I visited J. C. C , a highly distinguish- 
ed civilian of threescore years and ten, who 
had filled many important stations in life, and 
who now felt that his days were nearly ended. 
He took me by the hand very Idndly, his 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 197 

countenance expressive of deep emotion, and 
said, " I am an inquirer on the subject of re- 
ligion; I have attended to every thing but my 
soiiV I directed liim very briefly to tlie 
Saviour, and at tlie close told him I would 
send him a httle book in the morning, that 
would direct him more folly. He thanked 
me kindly for the interest I felt in him, and 
urged me to call again. The next morning I 
sent him James' Anxious Inquirer. 

In four days after I called again. His 
health had improved. He rose to his feet, 
his countenance bespoke peace within, and 
giving me a cordial shake by the hand, he 
said, "I have read that httle book through 
twice; the great question is answered. I 
think I understand what is meant by faith in 
Jesus Christ." I then explained to him as 
fully as I could the nature of the new birth — 
the evidences by which we might decide for 
ourselves the reality of the change. His very 
appearance was entirely changed — the deep 
anxiety that sat on his countenance had 
passed away, and happiness was expressed 
in every feature. 

In a few days he was able to walk, and 



198 "FIVE YEARS 

called to see me. He said he had read the 
book through again; that it was "a great 
hook ; but the writer had omitted one impor- 
tant point — ^he did not inform the reader how 
long the work of sanctification must be con- 
tinued after a man was justified ; that justifi- 
cation was an act mstantomeons, but sanctifi- 
cation was a work." I replied, " Our Saviour 
said to the thief on the cross, ' This day thou 
shalt be with me in paradise;' here sanctifi- 
cation was completed in a few hours." "I 
thank you, sir, that is enough: here is a 
check for $30, for the Tract Society; it is 
doing a great work." 

For six years he remained steadfast in the 
great doctrines of salvation by faith in Christ, 
and in a blameless Christian life, though ever 
distrustful of himself. Soon after his death 
in February, 1856, at the age of seventy- 
seven, the Eev. Mr. M justly said of him, 

"Well-deserved tributes have been paid by 
the governor of the commonwealth, and by 
the legislature and other public bodies to 
the distinguished public worth and private 
virtues of this eminent citizen. His views of 
salvation by faith in the crucified Eedeemer 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 199 

were clear and scriptural, and showed that 
the powers of a yigoroiis and highly cultivat- 
ed mind had been brought to bear upon the 
all-important subject. He often expressed 
sui-prise that any one could read the holy 
Scriptures in the proper spirit, and not be 
convinced of the reahty of religion, the divin- 
ity of the Saviour, and the atoning efficacy of 
his precious blood. His faith was simple and 
childlike. No dependence whatever was plac- 
ed in his own merits or righteousness. The 
atonement of the Son of God was 'the anchor 
of his soul,' the basis of his hopes of heaven." 



200 FIVE YEARS 



CONCLUSION. 



Most of tke facts and incidents in these 
sketches were committed to \\Titing about 
the time of their occurrence, and may be 
relied on as simple verities. Much of deep 
inherent interest, which met my eye, or fell 
upon my ear, might have been added, but 
for its inappropriateness to the character of 
this work, or unduly swelling the narrative. 

Those enjoying the calm refinements of 
social hfe in our favored cities and villages, 
who have never entered the abodes of ig- 
norance and poverty in the moral wastes of 
the land, may be unwilling to credit even the 
facts related ; but in a matter of such infinite 
importance as the enlightenment and salva- 
tion of perishing souls, could the real facts 
have been consistently withheld ? 

In the providence of God I was sent out as 
a watchman, not upon the walls of Zion, but 
outside of those walls ; and ought I to conceal 
the facts, and report, " All 's well," when 
hundreds of thousands are dying in sin and 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 201 

ignorance of the great salvation? Would 
not sncli nnfaithfalness be criminal in the 
sight of God ? 

And when the Holy Spirit was poured out 
in maryellous effusions, almost as in the day 
of Pentecost, should not the facts be recorded 
to the praise of divine grace in Jesus Christ ? 

Reared as I was from infancy under rehg- 
ious privileges, I had no idea that any part 
of oiu: land was in the sad moral condition 
which I found actually to exist; or that the 
distribution of printed truth and personal la- 
bors "publicly and from house to house," were 
ever so richly blessed. And such erroneous 
and defective impressions as to the wants of 
our fellow-men, and the encouragements to 
labor for their good, I believe are very prev- 
alent. 

I remember the day when I was confident 
that all around me were well supplied with 
the Bible, but on examination I found eight 
families, and among them my next door 
neighbor, who had no Bible; and a pastor 
who regarded Bible efforts in his congregar- 
tion as quite unnecessary, on investigation 
received from family after family the report, 



202 FIVE YEARS 



" No Bible/' the family of his own sexton be- 
ing among the number. An excellent young 
man, now a missionary in a distant land, on 
faithfully exploring a wealthy county, stated 
what he had seen to Mr. W , a distinguish- 
ed Christian citizen. " I have heard of you," 
said the gentleman. "I don't beheve the 
statements you are making about the moral 
destitutions of this county. I have made up 
my mind to go with you and see for myself." 
The young man welcomed his company. In 
the first dwelling they entered the family had 

no books, not even a Bible. Said Mr. W , 

/^Give them $2 50 worth, and I will pay for 
them." In the next they entered, and in the 
third, they found equal destitution ; and in 

each case Mr. W said, " Give them $2 50 

worth, and I will foot the bill." They went 

further, but soon Mr. W said, "My young 

friend, the half is not told ; take this $20 and 
go on with this heaven-directed work." 

As to the rich blessing that has attended 
the reading of books and tracts, it is weU for 
those reared in the midst of church privileges 
and good libraries to consider how different 
the influence of a good book may be on 



1 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 203 

such as have few books, or none at all. 
Take, if you please, a prosperous family in 
the interior of the country, far from any 
book-store, who may have an old family 
Bible, a few school-books, or perhaps some 
other old books moral and rehgious. A col- 
porteur enters with his saddle-bags of beau- 
tiful books. The children are almost frantic 
with joy. Each member of the family gets a 
book. It is devoured with greediness — not 
by a gospel-hardened sinner, but by one who 
has few or no gospel privileges. 

Is it strange that such a one, on reading 
the Pilgrim's Progress, the Anxious Inquirer, 
or Come to Jesus, is immediately awakened 
to seek for pardon and salvation ? Is it not 
rather more strange, that every one who at- 
tentively and solemnly reads such a book is 
not led to Christ ? 

And when we come down to those who are 
wholly destitute of books, who rarely hear a 
sermon, and yet are able to read, the effect is 
often still more powerful for good. 

Notwithstanding all that has been done, 
I beheve one lialf of all the families in our 
land now belong to one of these two classes. 



204 FIVE YEARS 

Hence the necessity of this sj'^tem of evan- 
gelization. We fear the time is far distant 
when onr country will be so well supplied 
with churches and pastors as to reach the 
surging masses of all languages that are 
crowding our vast territories, seeking homes 
for themselves and families. 

Let each one ask himself, in view of the 
final account he must give to God, "What 
can I do for these perishing thousands?" 
Here a way is pointed out by which every 
one can do something, either by laboring^ 
'praying, or giving. An old lady unable to 
move about, with an income of $600 per an- 
num, gave $150 each year as the salary of a 
colporteur, and she had a few other ladies to 
meet her once each week to pray for God's 
blessing on his labors. Few men in latter 
days have done as much good as this colpor- 
teur, Mr. C r. She thus labored by proxy. 

The man is still living who at first paid $150 
for my support, and vfas thus instrumental in 
whatever good I have done. Hundreds would 
be ready to go and work in this department 
of Christian effort if means were provided. 

This system of labor developes the dor- 



IN THE ALLEGHANIES. 205 

mant power of the churcli. Hundreds whose 
influence for good was never felt outside of 
their ovra family circle, have become success- 
ful laborers in this heaven-born work. Many 
of them are now able ministers of the New 
Testament, who would have remained " hew- 
ers of wood and drawers of water" had it 
not been for this system of doing good. I 
call to mind the names of a score of men who 
have been brought into the work of the min- 
istry either directly or indirectly by this sys- 
tem of colportage. 

Shall a work of so much power for good, 
and so much needed, be unsupported ? The 
price of one ocean steamer would support it 
efficiently over the whole land for one year. 

The issuing of this history is what the 
writer never intended to do, or allow others 
to do while he hved. He has prepared it, if 
he knows his own heart, purely with the hope 
it may do good. He trusts it may suggest to 
some whose supreme desire is to honor Christ 
in the solvation of men, a way by which they 
may gain the blessing of those who "turn 
many to righteousness," and who shall shine, 
above the brightness of the firmament, " as 



206 FIVE YEARS, ETC. 

the stars for ever and ever." That this maj^ 
be the gracious reward of him who writes, 
and of all who read this book, is the fervent 
prayer of the pioneer colporteur in the 
Alleghany mountains. 

Note.— The labors of this single-hearted, devoted, and 
fearless servant of Christ were at first secured for one year 
to explore some of these wild mountain gorges. Having 
been continued five years as above, they were extended 
southward in the Alleghany range, and at length over 
the whole states of Virginia and North Carolina, till he 
had had the cooperation of three hundred colporteurs, 
and their visits had reached five hundred thousand fami- 
lies, over forty thousand of whom attended no place of 
evangelical worship. Usually they read the Scriptures, 
conversed, and prayed in each family ; and they gathered 
into Sabbath-schools seventy thousand children, many of 
whom received their first book and learned their first lesson 
through this agency. Such wonderful effusions of the 
Holy Spirit as in some instances above recorded, were rare- 
ly witnessed, but these continued labors were evidently 
owned in the conversion of multitudes of souls. As the 
writer of the above sketches, now a commissioned minister 
of Christ, has well said, *'It must have been the work of 
God, who causes weak things to confound the mighty. It 
was God who led the' way, and raised up men and means, 
and guided his servants, and blessed them with his pres- 
ence; and to him 1)0 allthe glory." 



New York, Ifeceniber, 1863. 



^^W. A. H. Sec»t. 



\ 






\ 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



